Soil and water salinization and the development of organic saline crops

Bart G.H. Timmermans, A.J.T.M. Hospers-Brands. 2014. Soil and water salinization and the development of organic saline crops. 4th ISOFAR Scientific Conference. , Istanbul, Turkey. 13-15 oktober 2014. 3
Pagina's / pages: 4
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Taal/language: Engels
Abstract / summary in English:

Saline water and soils present an increasing problem for agriculture. Adaptation strategies include selection of existing crops for salt tolerance, and development of new salt-tolerant or halophyte crops. As saline areas are often located near sensitive nature conservation areas, the development of saline crops represents a challenge to sustainable and organic agriculture. In small field plots we tested the salt tolerance of two wild plant species that have some potential as saline crops: seakale and seabeet. We also tested the crop performance of seakale, on larger field plots. Our results show that seakale can be classified as salt-tolerant and seabeet as halophyte. In the larger field tests the performance of seakale was poor on soils saturated with (fresh) water, showing the need for adapted crop management. We conclude that the development of new saline crops has potential. However, there is still a long way to go before these crops can be produced on a larger scale.

Keywords in English: salinization, saline crops, seabeet, seakale