Saline and Alkaline Tolerance of Wetland Plants—What are the Most Representative Evaluation Indicators?

Rui Cheng, Hui Zhu, Xianwei Cheng, Brian Shutes and Baixing Yan
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Rui Cheng: Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China
Hui Zhu: Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China
Xianwei Cheng: Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China
Brian Shutes: Department of Natural Sciences, Middlesex University, Hendon, London NW4 4BT, UK
Baixing Yan: Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: The increasing discharge of wastewater containing inorganic salts, sometimes accompanied by high pH, has been a worldwide environmental problem. Constructed wetlands (CWs) are considered a viable technology for treating saline and/or alkaline wastewater provided that saline-alkaline tolerant plant species are selected and applied. The influence of both saline and alkaline stress on four wetland plant species during their seed germination, early growth, vegetative propagation and continued growth stages was evaluated by three experiments. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted for selecting representative indicators for evaluating the saline and alkaline tolerance of plants during vegetative propagation and plant growth stages. The saline and alkaline stress inhibited the vegetative propagation and plant growth of all tested plant species to varying degrees, therein the influences of saline-alkaline stress on plants were more marked than saline stress. The length of new roots, Na + accumulation in plant tissue, Na + /K + ratios in aerial tissue and the total dry biomass were selected as most representative indicators for evaluating the saline and alkaline tolerance of plants. Iris sibirica and Lythrum salicaria showed better saline and alkaline tolerance ability among tested species and could be grown in CWs for treating saline and/or alkaline wastewater.

Keywords: aquatic plants; saline-alkaline tolerance; germination; seedlings growth; reproduction; constructed wetlands (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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