An Ex Situ Salinity Restoration Assessment Using Legume, Saltbush, and Grass in Australian Soil

Abstract

Shoot and root water content, shoot/root biomass ratio, and plant height were measured in Melilotus siculus (Fabaceae), Tecticornia pergranulata (Amaranthaceae: Chenopodiodeae), and Thinopyrum ponticum (Poaceae) to determine their growth performance in a glasshouse -pot trial using salinity levels of 0.0, 2.5, and 5.0 dS m À1. The following indices, total-ion accumulation (TIA), bioaccumulation factor (BF), translocation factor (TF), and bioconcentration factor (BCF) of Na þ and Cl À were also measured enabling the evaluation of the remediation capacity of these plants. With increasing salinity in soil, total Na þ and Cl À accumulation increased in the tested plants in the following order:T. pergranulata > M. siculus > T. ponticum. T. pergranulata had the maximal phytoextraction capacity of Na þ and Cl À . The BF and BCF values of Na þ and Cl À were >1 in the plants tested in different salinity treatments. The TF value of Cl À was >1 for these tested plants,whereas the TF value of Na þ was >1 in T. pergranulata and M. siculus and it <1 in T. ponticum. T. pergranulata and M. siculus performed the best, accumulating more of Na þ and Cl À , and therefore they appear to be the candidates-of-choice for phytoremediation of saline sites in central western New South Wales, Australia.

The potential of three halophytes (Tecticornia pergranulata, Sclerolaena longicuspis, and Frankenia serpyllifolia) for the rehabilitation of brine‐affected soils

“…serpyllifolia (Table ). This result was consistent with a higher TF value (23.09 p < .05) for this species compared with the other investigated species (Table ); being in agreement with the results of other studies (Bhuiyan et al, ; Bhuiyan, Raman, Hodgkins, Mitchell, & Nicol, ), evaluating the physiology and salt ion accumulation capacity of T . pergranulata raised in ex situ environments.…”

“…The high accumulation of Na + in T . pergranulata shoot tissues is consistent with the known capacity of this genus for ion compartmentation at the cellular level to maintain osmotic pressure (Bhuiyan et al, ; Short & Colmer, ). In a contrasting strategy for salt tolerance, Frankeniaceae commonly excrete salt rather than retain it in shoot tissues (Manousaki & Kalogerakis, ) and F .…”

“…pergranulata for remediation was further confirmed by its high BF values for Na + (14.21 p < .01) and Cl − (5.60 p < 0.001; Table ) because the efficiency of a plant as a remediator is high when the BF value is greater than one (Bhuiyan et al, ; Rezvani & Zaefarian, ). In this regard, Bhuiyan et al () indicated that the BF values of T . pergranulata remain greater than one even when the salinity increases to 5 dS/m during the growth of this species.…”

“…However, TF values of this species (TF > 1) reinforce that S . longicuspis is still a suitable candidate for phytoextraction of Na + and Cl − because plants indicating TF value greater than one are suitable for phytoextraction (Bhuiyan et al, ; Yoon et al, ). T .…”

“…Ion accumulation factors were calculated to evaluate the remediation capacity of the examined halophytes. The halophytes' bioaccumulation factor (BF) was calculated as follows (Bhuiyan, Raman, Hodgkins, Mitchell, & Nicol, ; Bhuiyan, Raman, Hodgkins, Mitchell, & Nicol, ): where C shoot is the ion concentration (mg/kg dry matter) in shoots of the plants, and C soil is the ion content (mg/kg) in the soil.…”