Wild Medics From Different Original Habitats Can Be Used As Forage Legumes In Salt Affected Soil

Nadia Mohamed El-Shafey and Emad Al-Sherif
Additional contact information
Nadia Mohamed El-Shafey: Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Salah Salem Street, Beni-Suef, 62511, Egypt
Emad Al-Sherif: University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Jeddah Saudi Arabia

Journal Clean WAS (JCleanWAS), 2020, vol. 4, issue 2, 47-55

Abstract: Legumes are a key player in sustainable agriculture. They are a potential tool as forage for reclamation of saline soils. However, still there is a need to balance between tolerance of the forage during different developmental stages and its productivity. The present work aimed to study salinity tolerance of four wild Medicago species, as an initial step to select new species that can be grown in salt-affected soils or used as wild relatives to improve alfalfa. Seeds of M. polymorpha, M. intertexta, M. truncatula and M. lupulina, collected from different natural habitats, as well as alfalfa were germinated under different salinity levels to evaluate germination percentage and germination speed. Generally, seeds of M. truncatula collected from desert habitat showed the highest mean germination percentage followed by alfaalfa, while seeds of M. intertexta collected from salt-affected habitat exhibited the highest mean germination speed, followed by M. lupulina. Under severe salt stress, M. intertexta exhibited the highest aerial biomass index, followed by M. truncatula and M. lupulina, while M. polymorpha and alfalfa came as inferiors. Mineral contents and ion leakage of the studied species were determined and discussed. M. intertexta, M. truncatula and M. lupulina, collected from stressful habitats, tended to maintain osmotic and ionic homeostasis by relying on accumulation of the less energetic cost ions (Na+) in roots and sugars and K+ in shoots scoring the highest aerial biomass and tolerance index, orderly. Therefore, the results recommend cultivating these species in salt-affected lands or using them as wild relatives to improve alfalfa.

Keywords: Legume; Salinity; Mineral content; Sugars; Tolerance index.Journal: Journal Clean WAS (JCleanWAS) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://jcleanwas.com/download/1199/ (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zib:jclnws:v:4:y:2020:i:2:p:47-55

DOI: 10.26480/jcleanwas.02.2020.47.55

Access Statistics for this article

Journal Clean WAS (JCleanWAS) is currently edited by Professor Dr. Kamaruzaman Yunus

More articles in Journal Clean WAS (JCleanWAS) from Zibeline International Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Zibeline International Publishing ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).