Forage Shrub Production on Salt-Affected Soils

The role of saltbushes (Atriplex spp.) in arid land rehabilitation in the Mediterranean Basin: a review

“…New introductions took place in the whole region during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s under the impetus of the present writer and his associates [Froment, 1970;Delhaye et al, 1974;Franclet and Le Hougrou, 1971;Le Hougrou and Pontanier, 19871, within the framework of international research and devel-opment rangeland projects, supported by the publication of a synthetic state of knowledge report, in 1971 by Franclet and Le Hou6rou and by many publications from Israel [Tadmor, 1964;Tadmor et al, 1968;Forti, 1971;Orev, 1962Orev, , 1972]. At the same time similar activities were being conducted in Southern Africa [De Kock, 1967Leroux, 1974], in Australia [Malcolm, 1966[Malcolm, , 1989, in Argentina [Silva Colomer and Passera, 1989], in Chile [Lailhacar, 1962[Lailhacar, , 1990Olivares and Gasto, 1981;Gasto and Contreras, 1972], in the USA [Plummer et al, 1962;Goodin and McKell, 1971;McKell et al, 1972;McKell, 1989]. The most important exotic species utilized on a large scale to date is A. nummularia (Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Spain).…”

“…500 to 1000 S per hectare, and occasionally more, depending mainly on labour cost ]Le Houtrou, 1989b;Correal, 1989 personal communication]. Special machineries have also been successfully used ] Orev, 1962Orev, , 1972Malcolm et al, 1980]. small plantlets grown in nursery in small plastic containers with 5-10 sockets 2-3 cm wide and 10-15 cm long.…”

Controlling dryland salinity by planting trees in the best hydrogeological setting

“…These include agronomic measures such as changing agricultural crops and pastures to deeper-rooted species, modifying cultural practices and rectifying soil problems to improve plant growth (Nulsen, 1993), and greater use of perennial pastures, fodder shrubs and salt-tolerant plants (Malcolm, 1986;Oldham et al, 1991;Taylor and Clifton, 1993) Although these solutions are important integral measures for reducing salinity, each has limitations. For example, annual agricultural plants appear incapable of achieving sufficient reduction in recharge in temperate areas with heavy winter rainfall and summer drought, such as in southwest Western Australia.…”

Spatial modelling of dryland salinization potential in Victoria, Australia

“…Generally, the more saline the encroaching local groundwater, the greater the range of susceptible vegetation types and the larger the area where salinity levels cannot be readily tolerated by roots. Also, the greater is the difficulty of reestablishing new vegetation (Malcolm, 1986). Salinization processes are complex and the time taken for dryland salinization to appear following clearance of native vegetation in vulnerable areas is highly variable.…”