KARACHI: Experts at the second day of an international conference in progress at Karachi University (KU) shared how they were successfully using halophytes in diverse regions to improve soil and land productivity.

The three-day virtual conference, ‘Ecophysiology and sustainable use of cash crop halophytes — A tribute to Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan’, is organised at the Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan Institute of Sustainable Halophyte Utilisation (MAK-ISHU).

The second day focused more on applied research on salinity mitigation by using halophytes and saw biologists from China, Romania, the USA and Germany presenting success stories of their countries.

Dr Zhongjin Lu from Arizona State University, USA, delivered a lecture on the potential of a succulent halophyte Salicornia bigelovii as a profitable cash crop for salt-water irrigation.

He briefed participants that many disease-resistant, high seed-oil yielding and saponin-free varieties of this halophyte had been developed, which if grown under an integrated seawater polyculture system could substantially increase productivity of highly saline coastal lands.

“A prototype of such an integrated seawater polyculture system has already been developed in Eritrea and is showing promising outcomes,” he said.

Salt-tolerant plants

Speaking on the management of salt-affected areas and salt-tolerant plants in Romania, Dr Marius-Nicusor Grigore from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi, Romania, shared the experience of converting saline-alkaline lands in Romania into high-yield productive land by adopting different ecological strategies along with soil amendments.

Dr Wenxuan Mai representing Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, presented his research on the improvement of saline soils in China by using halophytes.

He suggested using halophytes in arid climatic zones where water availability was generally low. “Halophytes can adjust with many conventional water-saving agronomic practices such as drip irrigation and yield large quantities of biomass that can be utilised for various purposes,” he said, adding that his group had developed demonstration sites for halophyte-based soil reclamation in many countries, including Pakistan.

Noted biologist Dr Oscar Vicente of Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, talked about the use of halophytes for the restoration of coastal salt marshes, as an ecological strategy to protect coastal ecosystems.

He cited examples of many study sites from Spain where use of many local halophytes such as species of Limonium resulted in good recovery of the coastal marsh ecosystem. He emphasised the importance of laboratory-based studies on halophytes before their use in field condition.

“These halophytes utilise specialised biochemical mechanisms and antioxidants to deal with deleterious effects of high soil salinity to endure hostile salt marsh environments,” he told the participants.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2021