Suaeda salsa, A Desalinating Companion Plant for Greenhouse Tomato

Abstract

<jats:p>To determine its effect on salinity of the growth medium and on tomato (<jats:italic>Lycopersicon esculentum</jats:italic> Mill.) growth and yield, the halophyte <jats:italic>Suaeda salsa</jats:italic> (L.) Pallas, or seepweed, was planted as a companion plant in the closed insulated pallet system (CIPS). In this production system, water moves from a bottom reservoir through capillary wicks to the medium in the root pouch in response to plant uptake. Fertilizers are placed at the top surface of the root matrix, so nutrient ions move downward to the roots by chemical ion diffusion to establish relatively stable chemical gradients within the matrix. Plants were subjected to capillary subirrigation water containing 0 or 4 g·L<jats:sup>–1</jats:sup> NaCl. Sodium (Na<jats:sup>+</jats:sup>) concentration of the root medium at termination was 50% lower when <jats:italic>S. salsa</jats:italic> was grown in the same pouch with tomato. Sodium concentration was also significantly less in the tomato foliage, but <jats:italic>S. salsa</jats:italic> did not prevent suppression of growth of tomato plants by NaCl. <jats:italic>Suaeda salsa</jats:italic> plants reduced blossom end rot of tomato fruit but did not significantly affect fruit weight, number or yield.</jats:p>

Ion uptake by halophytic plants to mitigate saline stress in Solanum lycopersicon L., and different effect of soil and water salinity

“…The scarcity of material in literature demonstrates how this technique has not been sufficiently analyzed yet; moreover, in most of the cases studies have been conducted in soilles conditions (Albaho & Green 2000;Zurayk et al 2001), which constitutes a limitation. There are in fact good reasons to think that the use of halophytic plants in field can result in a positive effect on the cultivation both in the short-medium period -by reduction of salinity as illustrated above -and on the long term, by providing a partial bonification of the soil and, in case, also an amelioration of the physical characteristics of the substrate, as suggested by Graifenberg et al (2003).…”

“…Leaves Total lated in higher quantity as an immediate osmotic response to salinity, Watanabe et al 2000), and the combined effect of these circumstances is an exaltation of the organoleptic characteristics of the fruit itself, also enhanced by higher firmness of the tissues. The effects of consociation with halophytic plants are in all encouraging, since a general trend towards a mitigation of the condition of stress in the tomato plants can be detected; this constitutes a precious evidence, due to the scarcity of data related to this subject in literature (Albaho & Green 2000;Graifenberg et al 2003).…”

The Use of Native Halophytes in Landscape Design in The Central Anatolia, Turkey

“…Some of the selected halophytes survive higher concentrations, however, they display characteristics which decrease their values as landscape plants. The use of halophytes in revegetation could be useful for biodiversity maintenance (Morales et al, 2001), saline soil desalinization, and for increasing crop yield on soils with marginal salinity (Albaho and Green, 2000).…”

Halophyte based Mediterranean agriculture in the contexts of food insecurity and global climate change

“…A number of these researches used tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) as the cash crop species, being tomato one of the most cultivated species worldwide, particularly in the Mediterranean region. Albaho and Green (2000) tested the ability of Suaeda salsa L. to alleviate saline stress when intercropped with tomato in a closed insulated pallet. Despite a significant reduction of sodium levels both in the root medium (-50%) and in tomato leaves (-38%), the halophyte species did not prevent the growth reduction of tomato plants nor affected the tomato fruit yield.…”