Evaluation of The Salinity Tolerance of Russian Thistle to Determine Its Potential for Forage Production Using Saline Irrigation Water

摘要

Greenhouse and laboratory studies were conducted to determine the salinity tolerance of Russian-thistle (Salsola species) and evaluate the effect of salinity on some nutritional qualities. The results show that Russian-thistle is considerably less salt tolerant during germination than at later stages of growth. When initially exposed to a saline environment in the seedling stage in a sand solution culture, Russian-thistle plants developed a relatively high level of tolerance to salinity, which appeared to increase with time of exposure. Russian-thistle plants were considerably less tolerant to salinity when initially exposed to salinity during the transition during the transition from the vegetative to the reproductive stage. Salinity reduced levels of potentially toxic components of Russian-thistle plants, nitrate and water soluble oxalates.