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Wild grapevine was cultivated either alone or in association with Medicago sativa– rhizobia symbiosis on two soil types: an agricultural soil and a contaminated one. In the present work, we observed that in the agricultural soil, grapevine intercropped with the alfalfa–rhizobium combination exhibited a significant increase in whole plant biomass compared to plants grown in monoculture, reaching values from 26 to 38 g/plant, respectively. However, in the contaminated soil, intercropping had no significant effect on plant biomass (approximately 26 g/plant). In the agricultural soil, intercropped grapevines showed no significant difference in shoot Zn, Mg, Ca, and Fe concentrations compared with those grown in monoculture. Nevertheless, root Zn, Ca, and Fe concentrations (0.5, 80, and 10 g/kg·DW, respectively) were significantly lower than in grapevines cultivated alone. This suggests that grapevine competes with alfalfa for mineral uptake. In the contaminated soil, a significant reduction in root Fe and Ca concentrations was also observed in intercropped plants compared with monocultured grapevines—approximately 35% and 64% lower, respectively. It is likely that intercropping improves nutrient use efficiency while decreasing trace metal accumulation in intercropped grapevines. In fact, compared with monoculture, intercropping with alfalfa and rhizobia did not enhance mineral nutrient levels in grapevines.

The use of saline water for the irrigation of forage crops to alleviate water scarcity has become necessary in semi-arid and arid regions and researchers have been seeking ways to offset the harmful results of soil salinity. Soil amendments with compost, manure and other organic material provide a valuable source of plant nutrients and appear to speed up soil recovery. The aim of this study was to compare the benefits of farmyard manure and a municipal solid waste (MSW) compost (40 mg ha−1) for raising alfalfa (Medicago sativa, cv. Gabès) under salt-water irrigation. Both compost and manure improved plant mineral uptake and growth of alfalfa cultivated in clay soil. Using compost in clay soil increased the content of copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), and zinc (Zn) in plant tissues compared to manure, while the bio-accumulation factor (BAF) of Cu, Pb and Zn was higher in plants grown with manure compared to MSW compost with salt stress. Compost addition could enhance alfalfa growth under salt stress, which depends on salt doses and can greatly improve the recovery effects in a cost-effective way, although additional amendment type should receive special attention in order to be used as a tool for sustainable agriculture.

Soil salinity and heavy metal (HM) pollution of soil is an ongoing threat to the plants’ survival that adversely affect the crop productivity and global food security. Therefore, an eco-friendly solution is highly desirable for mitigating the adverse affect of toxic pollutants in plants and soils. This study was aimed to explore how municipal solid waste compost (CO) or farmyard manure (M) supplementation regulates biomass yield, mineral nutritions under salinity, and distribution profile of toxic pullutants of ( Medicago sativa L.) and sorghum [ Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]. The CO and M were supplemented with saline (NaCl) soils, the total experiments were conducted for the three consecutive harvestings (H1, H2 and H3) of sorghum and alfalfa. In this study, the CO supplementation highly enhanced biomas yield (dry weight basis in sorghum during H2, while it showed higher in alfalfa during H3., Interestingly, the M significantly increased nitrogen (N 2 ) and potassium (K + ) but reduced sodium (Na + ) in alfalfa, while the higher Na + and phosphorus (P) were accumulated in sorghum fertilizer. As a consequence of these finding, a positive correlation was observed among the plant biomass yield, N and K + content in alfalfa. Conversely, the high Na + present in soil declined plant biomass in surghum, indicating that CO supplemetaton was not fully effective under high saline soil conditions. However, the N-P-K distribution improved due to CO and/or M supplementation in saline soils, while Cd accumulation was higher in sorghum compared to alfalfa. Therefore, sorghum can be used to clean up contaminated environments. The PCA results showed the same clusters of treatments and amedments were grouped in same plot, which indicated positive correlation beteween the treatment groups and plants, repectively. These results suggest that M supplementation is useful to mitigate saline stress compared to CO in alfalfa, while sorghum can be recommended as to clean up heavy metals (HMs) from soils. This study further suggest a correlation of minerals (N-P-K) boosting and salinity stress reduction in plants. Therefore, organic amendment-based ecofriendly approach can be useful to mitigate salinity stress in plants as well as effective for clean environment and smart agriculture.

Drought stress along with soil salinity are the most common and frequently co-occurring abiotic stresses and threaten plant productivity, especially in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. The aims of this study were to investigate the interaction between soil drying (D) and salinity (S) in two forage species Medicago ciliaris TNC1.11 line and M. polymorpha TNP1.11 line. Plants were cultivated for 1 month in silty-sandy soil under two irrigation modes: 80% and 33% of field capacity (FC). The amount of the evapotranspirated water was replaced by a nutrient solution containing either 0 or 50 mM NaCl. Morphological parameters, photosynthesis, whole plant growth, water, and nutrient status (Na, K, Ca, Zn) were investigated. Under control or stressed conditions, M. ciliaris produced more biomass when compared to M. polymorpha . The whole-plant biomass production represented 237%, 230%, 175%, and 172%, respectively, in treatment C, S, D, and D + S in M ciliaris when compared to M polymorpha . The higher productivity correlates under all studied treatments in M. ciliaris with (i) a higher photosynthetic activity and water-use efficiency, (ii) more leaves per plant, higher number of ramifications and a longer stem, (iii) a high root water content under C, S, D + S treatments, and (iv) a high Zn accumulation in leaves. Salinity and drought applied individually negatively affect growth, photosynthesis, water, and potassium leaf content in both studied species. The effects of both constraints were not significantly additive. Salinity affects growth of the two studied species by the same manner (reduction by 64% as compared to control). The major advantage of M. ciliaris under dry or saline conditions seems to be the general high water-use efficiency and the corresponding positive impact on the ROS risk. Besides, M ciliaris showed a lower increase of Na + and less decrease of K + at salinity leading to an overall lower Na + /K + ratio as M. polymorpha . This shows that the selectivity of M. ciliaris is higher as the one of M. polymorpha . When compared to M. polymorpha , TNC1.11 line of M. ciliaris produced more biomass under drought, salinity, and combined stresses; therefore, we recommend its multiplication and use by farmers as a forage candidate for the rehabilitation of soils in arid and semi-arid salinized regions.

The present study aimed to compare the effects of phosphorus (P) deficiency applied only or combined with salinity on root response, P partitioning, acid phosphatase activity, and phenolic compounds in wild ( Hordeum   maritimum) and cultivated (H.   vulgare) barley species. Seedlings were grown hydroponically under low or sufficient P supply, with or without 100 mM NaCl for 55 days. Results showed that, when individually applied, P deficiency and salinity restricted the whole plant relative growth rate in both species of barley, with a more pronounced impact of the former stress. These depressive effects were more pronounced in H.   vulgare than in H.   maritimum. The combined effects of P deficiency and salinity were not additive neither on whole plant RGR nor on root response parameters in both species. The root area, root/shoot P content, root and leaf acid phosphatase activities, and shoot flavonoids contents increased under P deficiency conditions with and without salt in both species. Overall, the relatively better tolerance of H.   maritimum plants to P deficiency applied only or combined with salinity could be explained by the capacity of this species to maintain higher P acquisition efficiency in concomitance with a larger root system, a higher root/shoot DW ratio, a higher root/shoot P content, a greater root and leaf acid phosphatase activities, and a higher flavonoid content and antioxidant capacity under combined effects of both stresses. Thus, H.   maritimum constitutes a promising model to ameliorate the tolerance of the cultivated barley species under low-P soils and/or saline regions.

Hordeum maritimum (Poacea) is a facultative halophyte potentially useful for forage production in saline zones. Here, we assessed whether moderate NaCl-salinity can modify the plant response to phosphorus (P) shortage. Plants were cultivated for 55 days under low or sufficient P supply (5 or 60 μmol plant −1  week −1 KH 2 PO 4 , respectively), with or without 100 mM NaCl. When individually applied, salinity and P deficiency significantly restricted whole-plant growth, with a more marked effect of the latter stress. Plants subjected to P deficiency showed a significant increase in root growth (as length and dry weight) and root/shoot DW ratio. Enhanced root growth and elongation presumably correspond to the well-known root adaptive response to mineral deficiency. However, leaf relative water content, leaf P concentration, and leaf gas exchange parameters were significantly restricted. The interactive effects of salinity and P deficiency were not added one to another neither on whole plant biomass nor on plant nutrient uptake. Indeed, 100 mM NaCl-addition to P-deficient plants significantly restored the plant growth and improved CO 2 assimilation rate, root growth, K + /Na + ratio and leaf proline and soluble sugar concentrations. It also significantly enhanced leaf total antioxidant capacity and leaf anthocyanin concentration. This was associated with significantly lower leaf osmotic potential, leaf Na + and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration. Taken together, these results suggest that mild salinity may mitigate the adverse effects of phosphorus deficiency on H. maritimum by notably improving the plant photosynthetic activity, the osmotic adjustment capacity, the selective absorption of K + over Na + and antioxidant defence.

Different loads of municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) were applied to hyper saline salt lake soil under laboratory conditions to monitor biological soil quality. Microbial biomass-C (MBC), catalase, dehydrogenase, urease, alkaline phosphatase, arylsulfatase, and β-glycosidase activities were analyzed following 14, 30, and 50 days of incubation. In general, MBC and the oxidoreductase and hydrolase enzyme activities were significantly enhanced by addition of MSWC at 20 and 40 t ha −1 doses, but they decreased at 120 t ha −1 . Overall, the results show that the addition of MSWC to hyper saline soils can improve soil biological quality, in spite of its high salt content, which is an important step in any attempt to use them as biosaline agricultural soils. However, substances such as heavy metals in MSWC could limit the use of compost for this purpose; consequently, analysis of MSWC is recommended prior to its use.