Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul 18;12(1):12223.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-16266-4.

Halophytes play important role in phytoremediation of salt-affected soils in the bed of Urmia Lake, Iran

Fatemeh Ahmadi  1 , Nayer Mohammadkhani  2 , Moslem Servati  3
Affiliations

Halophytes play important role in phytoremediation of salt-affected soils in the bed of Urmia Lake, Iran

Fatemeh Ahmadi et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Soil salinity is a major threat in agriculture even in semi-arid regions of the world which can accelerate land degradation and desertification and decrease agricultural productivity and consequently jeopardize environmental and food security. Halophytes play important role in phytoremediation. This study is assessed the potential of Halocnemum strobilaceous, Atriplex verruciferae, Salsola crassae, and Salicornia europaeae in phytoremediation of saline soils occurred after water level desiccation of Urmia Lake. Three distances from the water body (500, 1000, and 1500 m) was selected for evaluating. Soils and plants were analyzed using standard methods. The mean values of salinity indices of the saline-sodic soil samples were identified as pH 8.6 and electrical conductivity (ECe) 65.34 dS m-1, also sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) were higher than 13 and 15%, respectively. The maximum soil exchangeable Na+, K+, and Ca2+ concentrations (7200, 1900, and 1400 mg kg-1, respectively), also the concentrations of Mn2+ (12.5 mg kg-1), Fe2+ (5.5 mg kg-1), and Cu2+ (1.5 mg kg-1), were significantly different at various distances. However, the highest amounts were obtained at 500 m. In addition the concentration of Fe2+ (511.85 mg kg-1), Zn2+ (99.97 mg kg-1), and Na+ (25.65 mg kg-1) was the highest, especially in shoots. Furthermore, Salicornia and Halocnemum were more effective in salinity-remediation in comparison to other halophytes. The maximum dry matter (38%), protein (16%), and oil percentage (3.5%) were found in Salicornia, followed by Halocnemum. The findings indicated that salt-accumulating halophytes could be considered as the suggestions for phytoremediation saline soils and desalinating soil in arid and semi-arid regions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location of (a) East Azarbaijan Province in Iran, (b) study area, (c) Rahmanloo sampling site, and (d) Gharagheshlagh sampling site. Figures were created in ArcGIS 10.2 (http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The studied plants: (a) Halocnemum strobilaceum, (b) Atriplex verruciferae, (C) Salsola crassae, and (d) Salicornia europaeae (Scale centimeter). Photographs were taken by M. Servati.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Soil salinity indices as affected by distance in two different areas.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) Soil macro-nutrient and (B) micro-nutrient concentrations in the two studied areas.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Dry matter, protein, and oil percentage of halophytes grown in (A) Rahmanloo and (B) Gharagheshlagh regions.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The transfer factor percentage in (A) Rahmanloo and (B) Gharagheshlagh regions.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Comparison of EC (a) and ESP (b) in initial and after phytoremediation soil samples.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lastiri-Hernández MA, Álvarez-Bernal D, Moncayo-Estrada R, Cruz-Cárdenas G, García JS. Adoption of phytodesalination as a sustainable agricultural practice for improving the productivity of saline soils. Environ. Dev. Sustain. 2020;23:8798–8814. doi: 10.1007/s10668-020-00995-5. - DOI
    1. Plaut Z, Edelstein M, Ben-Hur M. Overcoming salinity barriers to crop production using traditional methods. Crit. Rev. Plant Sci. 2013;32(4):250–291. doi: 10.1080/07352689.2012.752236. - DOI
    1. Saghafi D, Delangiz N, Lajayer BA, Ghorbanpour M. An overview of the improvement of crop productivity in saline soils by halotolerant and halophilic PGPRs. Biotech. 2019;9(7):1–14. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mirecki N, Agic R, Sunic L, Milenkovic L, Ilic ZS. Transfer factor as an indicator of heavy metals content in plants. Fresenius Environ. Bull. 2015;24(11):4212–4219.
    1. Kumar P, Sharma PK. Soil salinity and Food Security in India. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 2020;4:174–181. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2020.533781. - DOI