Effects of NaCl and KCl on Growth and Ionic Composition of the Halophytic C₄ Succulent Chenopods Salsola kali, Suaeda monoica and Suaeda aegyptiaca

Abstract

Salsola kali, Suaeda monoica and Suaeda aegyptiaca plants were grown in sand culture under controlled conditions and treated with half-strength Hoagland's nutrient solution (control), and control plus 150 mol m^-3 KCl or NaCl.

Fresh weight of Salsola kali was doubled in the NaCl and KCl treatments, but the increase in dry matter as compared with the control was not significant. Ionic content in this species revealed high selectivity for K v. Na.

Fresh weight of Suaeda monoica and S. aegyptiaca was raised by NaCl 5 and 10 times respectively. Control and KCl-treated plants were poorly developed and plants of S. aegyptiaca exhibited sodium deficiency symptoms under these treatments. The two Suaeda species had lower selectivity of K v. Na than Salsola kali. Of the two annual species, Suaeda kali and S. aegyptiaca, S. kali flowered under all three treatments, whereas S. aegyptiaca flowered only under the Na treatment. In spite of the fact that all three species are inorganic ion accumulators and C₄-succulent chenopods, they exhibit wide differences in their response to the two chloride salts.