Sarcocornia fruticosa, a Potential Candidate for Saline Agriculture: Antioxidant Levels in Relation to Environmental Conditions in the Eastern Iberian Peninsula

Neus Ortega Albero, Sara Vallejo Sardon, Ioan Lupuţ, Monica Boscaiu (), Maria P. Donat-Torres, Ana Fita () and Sara González-Orenga
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Neus Ortega Albero: Institute for the Conservation and Improvement of Valencian Agrodiversity (COMAV), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Sara Vallejo Sardon: Institute for the Conservation and Improvement of Valencian Agrodiversity (COMAV), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Ioan Lupuţ: Faculty of Forestry and Cadastre, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Monica Boscaiu: Mediterranean Agroforestry Institute (IAM), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Maria P. Donat-Torres: Research Group of Zoology of Vertebrates, University of Alicante, Carr. de San Vicente del Raspeig, s/n, 03690 San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain
Ana Fita: Institute for the Conservation and Improvement of Valencian Agrodiversity (COMAV), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Sara González-Orenga: Mediterranean Agroforestry Institute (IAM), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: Sustainable crop production requires an innovative approach due to increasing soil salinisation and decreasing freshwater availability. One promising strategy is the domestication of naturally salt-tolerant plant species with commercial potential. Sarcocornia fruticosa is a highly salt-tolerant halophyte, common in Mediterranean marshes, which may hold promise for biosaline agriculture. This study included 11 populations of this species spread over the territory of the Valencian Community in eastern Spain. Climatic data for each locality were obtained from the nearest meteorological stations. Soil analyses included texture, pH, electroconductivity, organic carbon and organic matter. Biochemical analyses on wild-sampled plant material focused on antioxidant compounds, such as carotenoids, phenolics, flavonoids and proline with malondialdehyde (MDA) used as a marker of oxidative stress. All variables (climatic, edaphic and biochemical) were evaluated together using Principal Component Analysis and Spearman correlation. The results obtained indicated some climatic differences in terms of mean annual precipitation, with a clear N-S gradient and considerable edaphic variability. However, none of the environmental conditions showed a clear correlation with plant biochemical characteristics. Significant differences in the levels of phenolic compounds, flavonoids and MDA between populations were probably due to genetic factors and cannot be explained as a response to environmental conditions.

Keywords: halophytes; climatic conditions; soil type; antioxidants; correlations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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