Effect of Salinity and Nitrogen Fertilization Levels on Growth Parameters of Sarcocornia fruticosa, Salicornia brachiata, and Arthrocnemum macrostachyum
Tesfaye Asmare Sisay, Zhadyrassyn Nurbekova, Dinara Oshanova, Arvind Kumar Dubey, Kusum Khatri, Varsha Mudgal, Anurag Mudgal, Amir Neori, Muki Shpigel, Rajeev Srivastava, Luísa Custódio, Dominic Standing, Moshe Sagi
Abstract
Salinity negatively influences crop growth, but several salt-tolerant plant species (halophytes) are viable crops. Sarcocornia fruticosa (ecotypes EL and VM) is currently cultivated, but there is demand for new crop candidates and higher biomass production. Salicornia brachiata Roxb. and Arthrocneum macrostachyum L. are considered novel crops, and to realize their potential, their response to salinity and nitrogen nutrition was compared to S. fruticosa ecotypes. Experiments revealed that higher N supplemented with lower NaCl significantly increased fresh and dry shoot biomass. Lower biomass was obtained at lower nitrogen supplemented with elevated NaCl, whereas total soluble solids content positively correlated with NaCl fertigation in both Sarcocornia ecotypes. Protein content increased with a lower nitrogen supply. Anthocyanins and oxygen radical absorbance capacity were highest in S. fruticosa EL and A. macrostachyum at higher NaCl supply. The results show that halophytes have a variety of strategies to cope with high NaCl, even between ecotypes of the same species. Notably, repetitive harvesting of S. brachiata delayed flowering enabling year-round biomass production. Additionally, S. brachiata accumulated higher biomass than Sarcocornia VM when grown in a greenhouse at higher radiation than in a growth room and strongly supports its inclusion as a cash-crop halophyte.