Studies on the Growth and Forage Production of Some Atriplex Species Under Different Levels of Salinity

This investigation was carried out during the two seasons of 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 to study the growth and forage production of some Atriplex species under different levels of salinity. The most important results could be summarized as follows: Both numbers of leaves as well as branches /plant, Leaf Area Index (LAI), average of both fresh and dry weights per plant (g) was significantly differed due to Atriplex species under study. Salinity concentration evidently affected all vegetative characters of Atriplex plant. It was found that increasing salinity levels caused some losses in the growth and forage production in the two seasons. Relevant results clearly indicated that Atriplex species differed among themselves as crude protein of leaves and stems was concerned since A. nummularia surpassed the other species due to this trait. Salinity levels affected the crude protein content (%) especially that of leaves since higher salinity levels caused lower protein (%) in both leaves and stems. Atriplex nummularia proved to be the most suitable specie among all the species involved in the present study. The growth status of this plant was improved as salinity level was increased up to 0.8% and then began to decrease due to higher salinity levels since the least growth and forage production were recorded due to the higher salinity level of 2.9% NaCl.

کلیدواژه ها:

Atriplex species ، Forage production ، Salinity stress