Phyto-remediation potential of halophytes and other salt tolerant plant species

for Coastal Saline Soils

Sanjay Arora, G.G. Rao, R. Trivedi*, Anil R. Chinchmalatpure and D.K. Sharma**
Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Bharuch 392012, Gujarat; *SRK
Institute of Applied Sciences, Surat, Gujarat; **CSSRI, Karnal

About 6.73 million hectares of land is salt affected in India. Agricultural salinity is a major
environmental constraint affecting crop production. In coastal saline soils of western coast of
India, certain halophytes are dominant. These economically useful halophytes and salt
tolerant plant species can effectively remove salt from soil which includes Salvadora persica,
Suaeda nudiflora, Salvadora oleoides, Hibiscus sabdariffa (khati bhindi), Cressa cretica,
Mirabilis jalapa and a mangrove Avicennia marina. These have potential to remove
substantial amounts of sodium from soil upto 25 dS/m as evident from elemental analysis of
leaf and stem under salinity stress. Certain multipurpose tree species Casuriana
equisetifolia, Acacia catechu, Leucaena leucophala and Albezia lebbeck were able to
survive under high salinity stress upto 15 dS/m.
Nine useful plant species and one grass species were evaluated for their salt tolerance and
salt removal when grown on Vertisols with imposed salinity in green house. The plant
species included were Hibiscus spp. (khati bhindi), Asparagus, Luceanea, Sunnhemp,
Mirabilis jalapa, Dumro (Ocimum basilicum), Indigofera, Dhaincha and Murraya koenigii
(Curry leaf). There was decrease in plant height with increase in salinity in case of all the
plants species tested. However, it was observed that Hibiscus spp., Ocimum basilicum,
Indigofera, Mirabilis jalapa and Murraya koenigii performed well upto EC level of 20 dS m -1
while other plant species performed satisfactorily upto 15 dS m -1 salinity level. Also it was
noted that Avicennia (mangrove) performance in respect of germination and growth was
improved with increase in salinity level from 2.5 dS m-1 to 35 dSm-1.
Field and pot experiments were initiated with different halophytes plant species were
conducted at CSSRI, Regional Research Station, Bharuch to ascertain the efficacy of
halophyte plants for salt removal from soil under different imposed salinity levels. It was
observed that there was 4% and 27% higher plant height of Salvadora persica grown in field,
under EC 15 dSm-1 treatment compared to EC of 2.5 dSm -1 and 30 dSm-1 , respectively at 90
days after planting. In shoots, Na content increased by 42% at salinity level of 30 dSm -1 over
2.5 dSm-1. There was 4% drop in activity of dehydrogenase enzyme in soil was noticed when
salinity level increased from 2.5 dSm-1 to 30 dSm-1. Rhizospheric soil bacteria population
declined up to 80% at salinity level of 30 dSm-1 compared to 2.5 dSm-1. In pot study with
salinity treatments of 2.5, 7.5, 15, 20, 25 and 35 dSm -1 on Vertisol, Savladora oleoides
growth was found to be influenced. Maximum shoot height was 77.85 cm and minimum
shoot height was 70.7 cm in 7.5 dSm -1 and 35 dSm-1 treatments, respectively. Sodium
content of leaves in S. oleoides were increased up to 40% when salinity raised from 2.5
dSm-1 to 20 dSm-1, thereafter fall in Na content was observed. In stem, up to 32% increase in
Na content was recorded at salinity of 35 dSm -1 compared to 2.5 dSm-1. The proline content
of fresh leaves was increased from 90 g/g to 340 g/g when salinity increased from 2.5 to
35 dSm-1. Maximum number of branches of Suaeda nudiflora was found at 7.5 dSm-1. The
increase in number of branches from 27 to 52 were recorded, when salinity was increased
from 2.5 dSm-1 to 35 dSm-1. Plant height increased up to 57.8 cm at salinity of 15 dSm -1.
There was increase in root length from 8.2 cm to 23.5 cm when salinity level was raised from
2.5 dSm-1 to 15 dSm-1, but further increase in salinity ceased the growth of roots in S.
nudiflora. There was 52% and 14% rise in Na content of leaves and stem respectively when
salinity was increased from 2.5 dSm-1 to 30 dSm-1. Proline content of fresh leaves was
minimum of 440 g/g at lower salinity level and maximum of 840 g/g at highest salinity
level. Thus, salinity enhanced proline synthesis in leaves of Suaeda nudiflora. The
population of rhizosphere bacteria increases up to 32 *105 at salinity level of 15 dSm-1,
further salinity resulted in decrease in number of bacteria (7*105) at 35 dSm-1 salinity level.