Eco-physiological evaluation of multipurpose tree species to ameliorate saline soils

Abstract

Salinity is a widespread soil and underground water contaminant threatening food security and economic stability. Phytoremediation is an efficient and environmental-friendly solution to mitigate salinity impacts. The present study was conducted to evaluate the phytoremediation potential of five multipurpose trees: Vachellia nilotica, Concorpus erectus, Syzygium cumini, Tamarix aphylla and Eucalyptus cammaldulensis under four salinity treatments: Control, 10, 20 and 30 dS m⁻¹. Salinity negatively impacted all the tested species. However, E. cammaldulensis and T. aphylla exhibited the lowest reduction (28%) and (35%) in plant height respectively along with a minimal reduction in leaf gas exchange while V. nilotica, S. cumini and C. erectus showed severe dieback. Similarly, the antioxidant enzymes increased significantly in E. cammaldulensis and T. aphylla as Superoxide Dismutase (87% and 79%), Catalase (66% and 67%) and Peroxidase (89% and 81%), respectively. Furthermore, both of these species maintained optimum Na/K ratio reducing the highest levels of soil EC_e and SAR, suggesting the best phytoremediation potential. The present study identifies that E. cammaldulensis and T. aphylla showed effective tolerance mechanisms and the highest salt sequestration; therefore, may be used for phyto-amelioration of salinity impacted lands.

Novelty statement Although previous studies evaluated the tolerance potential of many tree species, comparative and physiochemical evaluation of multipurpose tree species has been remained unexplored. In this scenario, eco-physiological characterization of multipurpose tree species may inform tree species for phytoremediation of saline soils according to the level of salinity. Optimizing tree species selection also improves the success of wood for energy and revenue generation while restoring degraded soils.

Keywords:

• Abiotic stress
• food threats
• multipurpose trees
• phyto-amelioration
• salinity
• soil improvement

Acknowledgments

I would like to extend my special thanks to the Higher Education Commission Pakistan (HEC) for sponsoring a 6-month visit to University of Florida USA under International Research Support Initiative Program (IRSIP) for Ph.Ds. I appreciate the boundless support of Dr. Sarfraz (Soil Scientist) Soil Salinity Research Institute Pindi Bhattian Punjab Pakistan for helping in soil analysis and experiment design. I extend my gratitude to Dr. John W. Groninger, Southern Illinois University, U.S.A. for his volunteer and enormous support to improve the language and overall quality of the manuscript. Lastly, I am thankful to Dr. Hassan Munir Bajwa, Department of Agronomy for providing the leaf gas exchange analyzer (IRGA).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Higher Education Commission Pakistan (HEC) under the National Research Program for Universities (NRPU) project number [P#4706].