Response of Symphyotrichum novi-belgii and Dianthus chinensis L. to saline water irrigation in a coastal saline soil

Abstract

a b s t r a c tSymphyotrichum novi-belgii and Dianthus chinensis L. perform well in landscape. However, their tolerance to salinity stress is unknown. Field experiment was conducted to evaluate the salt tolerance threshold (STI) of these two herbaceous plants cultivated in a coastal saline soil by drip-irrigation with saline water at electrical conductivity (EC) of 0.8, 3.1, 4.7, 6.3, and 7.8 dS/m for three years. The original soil salinity expressed as electrical conductivity of the saturation paste extract (EC e ) was an average of 27.64 dS/m in the 0-95 cm depth. Our results showed that drip-irrigation was effective in salt leaching. After 18 months, the average values of soil EC e for five treatments were 2.32 and 2.78 dS/m in 0-35 and 0-95 cm soil profile, respectively. The survival rates were >94% and >80% when irrigated with saline water at <7.8 dS/m for S. novi-belgii and D. chinensis L., respectively. The survival rate and shoot dry mass decreased by 0.76% and 9.24% for each unit of EC increase in the irrigation water for S. novi-belgii, and the corresponding values were 3.01% and 8.21% for D. chinensis L. This study implied that S. novi-belgii and D. chinensis L. are suitable plants in landscape construction of coastal saline soils using drip-irrigation with suitable saline water range.

Planting trees in saline soil using ridge cultivation with drip irrigation in an arid region of China

“…With flood irrigation, however, the large amount of water needed for each irrigation period and the lower frequency of irrigation result in volatile changes in soil moisture, and this affects the growth of the vegetation in saline soil (Fan et al, 2014). Drip irrigation overcomes these problems to create more uniform soil moisture, fertilizer, air, and heat conditions that are more suitable for vegetation growth in saline soil (Chen et al, 2015; Li et al, 2016; Wang et al, 2011). This might be the reason why drip irrigation resulted in a higher survival rate than flood irrigation (see Table 2).…”

“…To lower the groundwater depth and reduce the impact of salt returning to the plant roots from shallow groundwater evaporation, ridge cultivation was used. The saline soil structure is always destroyed owing to the poor water conductivity and air permeability that results from waterlogging (Li et al, 2016; Tong, 2014; Ulrike et al, 2009). Moreover, ridge furrows are flooded after heavy rains.…”

“…Although there are some salt‐tolerant tree species, they are limited by climate and other conditions. In recent studies, drip irrigation was successfully applied to salt leaching to reclaim saline soils for agricultural production and afforestation in coastal regions and semiarid areas in China (Dong et al, 2017, 2020; Li et al, 2015a, 2015b, 2016). In these studies, the soil matric potential (SMP) was controlled and the soil was monitored using tensiometers at 20 and 50 cm under drip emitters.…”

“…to salt leaching to reclaim saline soils for agricultural production and afforestation in coastal regions and semiarid areas in China (Dong et al, 2017(Dong et al, , 2020Li et al, 2015aLi et al, , 2015bLi et al, , 2016. In these studies, the soil matric potential (SMP) was controlled and the soil was monitored using tensiometers at 20 and 50 cm under drip emitters.…”