Halophytic plants (environmentally smart crops) for forage, biofuel production and soil bioremediation

摘要

Leptochloa fusca,Kochia indica,Sporobolus virginicus,Salicornia europaea and Spartina patensare highly salt tolerant C4 halophytic forage plants grow well in coastal salt marsh.They have a special place in newly emerging farming systems,especially in coastal areas and where freshwater resources are not available or are in short supply.Growing halophytic plants as a multi-use crop for forage and biofuel production on salt affected land that can be irrigated with brackish water or seawater,can spare fresh water and high quality soil for food and feed production while bringing poor land into cultivation.Field trials were carried out in salt affected soil around the coast of Qaron Lake to evaluate the impact of irrigation with 2500 ppm salt loaded drainage water on the productivity and the nutritional value of these forage plants as well as the possibility of using them for biofuel production and bioremediation of the salt affected soil.All tested plants tolerated harvesting ten times per year and were capable of recovering and maintaining a fresh productive biomass of 8.42 to 15.88 ton ha?1.The crude protein varied between 8.32 and 10.2％.The cellulose and hemicelluloses concentration being between 25.14 and 31.23％,these plants can be used for ethanol production.Successive harvest improve soil quality by decreasing SAR and electrical conductivity of the soil as some of these plants can accumulate salts in vacuoles in their leaf cells.Leptochloa fusca followed with Sparina patents were most effective for soil bio-reclamation.Thus these halophytic plants can be called “environmentally smart crops”.