Interactive Effects of Salinity and Fertility on Yields of Grains and Vegetables¹

Abstract

The salt tolerance of crops has usually been studied under optimal fertility conditions. The objectives of the present studies were to compare crop response to salinity when nutrients were limiting, adequate, or in excess to guide proper fertilization of saline soils and to determine whether additional fertilizer could restore yield losses caused by salinity. Corn (Zea mays L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), and six vegetable crops were grown to maturity in large, outdoor sand cultures to study the interactive effects of salinity and nutrition. Increasing levels of phosphate (0.1 to 2.0 mM) aggravated salt injury in corn and decreased salt tolerance. Decreasing solution K from 2 to 0.4 meq/liter did not affect leaf K or yield of corn. Deficient levels of P or N did not consistently decrease salt tolerance of any of the crops studied, although the wheat and barley varieties showed erratic decreases in salt tolerance when N or P was deficient. When N or P was severely growth‐limiting, salinity affected growth of some crops [broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. capitata), cabbage (B. oleracea var. botrytis)] less. Conversely, when salinity severely limited growth, nutritional responses of some crops decreased. Salinity did not aggravate N or P deficiency as judged by leaf N and leaf P contents. Effects of salinity and N or P deficiency on other mineral constituents were highly crop specific.

Relationship between survival and yield related traits in Solanum pimpinellifolium under salt stress

“…Although S. pimpinellifolium is the closest relative of cultivated tomato and several accessions already have been identified and characterized for salt tolerance (Bolarín et al 1991;Cuartero et al 1992;Hassan et al 1990;Villalta et al 2008) the use of this species in breeding programs for salt tolerance is still largely untapped. Salt tolerance of crops is often expressed as relative yield depression for a defined level of soluble salts in the soil solution compared with yields under nonsaline conditions (Bernstein et al 1974). It has been suggested that commercial crop yield should be the ultimate agronomical criterion for establishing salt tolerance of lines (Maas et al 1977).…”

Salinity–mineral nutrient relations in horticultural crops

“…In contrast to the effect of Cl À on NO À 3 uptake, others have reported that increased NO À 3 in the substrate decreased Cl À uptake and accumulation in numerous annual horticultural crops (Bernstein et al, 1974;Kafkafi et al, 1982;Feigin et al, 1987;Martinez and Cerda Â, 1989). This effect is particularly relevant in tree or vine crops that are prone to Cl-toxicity.…”

“…The difficulty in interpreting these studies has been discussed in detail elsewhere (Bernstein et al, 1974;Grattan and Grieve, 1994) and will only be mentioned here briefly. In most field studies, two variables, salinity and nutrient deficiency limit plant growth.…”

“…2 mM vs. 2 mM). Several studies conducted in solution cultures have shown that P concentrations that are optimal in non-saline solutions may adversely affect growth or be toxic to corn (Bernstein et al, 1974;Nieman and Clark, 1976) as well as other agronomic crops grown under saline conditions. In these cases salinity by some unknown mechanism causes the plant to lose control of phosphate uptake (Roberts et al, 1984) and transport to the shoot.…”

Ameliorative effect of K-type and Ca-type artificial zeolites on the growth of beets in saline and sodic soils

“…In the soil, plant growth is markedly inhibited by the toxicity of specific elements such as Na or B (Maas 1984), and by the deficiency in Ca and K (Kawasaki and Moritsugu 1973;Perez Alfocea et al 1993), and Mg (Bernstein et al 1974). Soil sodication is accompanied by an increase of pH (over 8.5) if the concentration of HC0 3 -or C0 3 2 -is high, while the soil pH is near neutral if Na+-ions are combined with Cl-or SO/- (Kamphorst and Bolt 1978).…”