Behavior of Sarcocornia fruticosa under salt stress

Abstract

Soil salinity, one of the major abiotic stresses reducing agricultural productivity, affects large terrestrial areas of the world; the need to produce salt-tolerant crops is evident. Most crops in agricultural production are sensitive to salt stress. Consequently, salinity is an ever-present threat to agriculture, especially in areas where secondary salinisation has developed through irrigation or deforestation. In turn, the research on salt-tolerant plants (known as halophytes plants) may provide the solution to this problem. Halophytes have evolved to grow in saline soils, developing a wide range of adaptations. In the present work we study the behavior of Sarcocornia fruticosa under salt stress. Two trials have carried out: Trial 1 with 2 saline treatments (3,51 and 58 mM NaCl) and trial 2 with three treatments (100 mM, 200 mM and 300 mM NaCl). The results indicate that S. fruticosa is capable of tolerating very high and continued exposure to salt, levels of 300 mM of NaCl presents similar biomass related 100 mM of NaCl. Neverhteless, the branches died increase significantly under high level of salinity.