Recycled Wastewater and Reverse Osmosis Brine Use for Halophytes Irrigation: Differences in Physiological, Nutritional and Hormonal Responses of Crithmum maritimum and Atriplex halimus Plants

Abstract

Halophytes are capable of coping with excessive NaCl in their tissues, although some species may differ in their degree of salt tolerance. In addition, it is not clear whether they can tolerate other confounding factors and impurities associated with non-conventional waters. The experiment was performed in a greenhouse with Crithmum maritimum and Atriplex halimus plants, growing on soil and irrigated with two different water types: reclaimed wastewater (RWW) (EC: 0.8–1.2 dS m−1) and reverse osmosis brine (ROB) (EC: 4.7–7.9 dS m−1). Both species showed different physiological and nutritional responses, when they were irrigated with ROB. Atriplex plants reduced leaf water potential and maintained leaf turgor as consequence of an osmotic adjustment process. Atriplex showed higher intrinsic water use efficiency than Crithmum, regardless of the type of water used. In Crithmum, the water status and photosynthetic efficiency were similar in both treatments. Crithmum presented a higher leaf accumulation of B and Ca ions, while Atriplex a higher amount of K, Mg, Na and Zn. Crithmum plants irrigated with ROB presented higher concentrations of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid and trans-zeatin-glucoside, whereas abscisic acid concentration was lower. Atriplex showed a lower concentration of trans-zeatin-riboside and scopoletin. The characteristics associated to water irrigation did not influence negatively the development of any of these species, which confirms the use of brine as an alternative to irrigate them with conventional waters.

Halophytes play important role in phytoremediation of salt-affected soils in the bed of Urmia Lake, Iran

“…Nutrient contents in different halophyte species were varied although they were cultivated in the same saline conditions, which could be due to the plant mechanism for salting stress conditions. The obtained results in this study were higher than those reported by Gómez-Bellot et al 30 , for Salicornia species. Based on the previous studies, the species of Salicornia and Halocnemum could accumulate the salts into epidermal vesicle bladders specialized in sodium sequestration, which could improve the tolerance of plants in salt-stress conditions 29 .…”

“…Halophytes are efficient in adaptation and have a well-orchestrated mechanism for dealing with salinity stress 29 . In addition, they can complete their life cycle in saline conditions 30 .…”

Rock Samphire, a Candidate Crop for Saline Agriculture: Cropping Practices, Chemical Composition and Health Effects

“…Similarly, Gil et al [56] highlighted the effectiveness of plant antioxidant mechanisms against lipid peroxidation, while they also identified differences in the antioxidant defense machinery between different populations of C. maritimum. Gómez-Bellot et al [57] reported that the water status and photosynthetic activity was not impaired in Crithmum maritimum plants irrigated with brine, while the leaf content in Ca and B and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid and trans-zeatin-glucoside increased under saline conditions. Moreover, according to Ciccarelli [30], sea fennel exhibits high resistance to drought stress due to the high water capacity of leaves, which is an important feature considering the impact of climate change on irrigation water availability.…”

Eustress in Space: Opportunities for Plant Stressors Beyond the Earth Ecosystem

“…Many studies have assessed the potential for using saline water on conventional crops and forages, however their low tolerance limits productivity (Jones et al, 2019;Romero-Trigueros et al, 2020). Thus, water desalinisation or application of irrigation water with a high salt concentration requires selection of appropriate species and genotypes (Gómez-Bellot et al, 2021). For example, Crithmum maritimum (sea fennel) and Atriplex halimus (Mediterranean saltbush) have recently been shown to tolerate irrigation by recycled wastewater and reverse osmosis brine but through differential accumulation of ions mediated by different hormonal signalling pathways (Gómez-Bellot et al, 2021).…”

“…Thus, water desalinisation or application of irrigation water with a high salt concentration requires selection of appropriate species and genotypes (Gómez-Bellot et al, 2021). For example, Crithmum maritimum (sea fennel) and Atriplex halimus (Mediterranean saltbush) have recently been shown to tolerate irrigation by recycled wastewater and reverse osmosis brine but through differential accumulation of ions mediated by different hormonal signalling pathways (Gómez-Bellot et al, 2021). Both species can be of use for humans but C. maritimum, may be of particular use on space missions an additional food source, and with leaves exhibiting aromatic and medicinal purposes as a tonic and diuretic (Ruberto et al, 2000).…”