<i>Inula crithmoides:</i>A candidate plant for saline agriculture

Abstract

Inula crithmoides L., a common halophyte from the coast of Lebanon was evaluated for use in saline agriculture. The plant is traditionally consumed in Lebanon and is claimed to have medicinal properties. Inula crithmoides offshoots were collected from the wild and propagated in a controlled environment. Germination and rooting tests under various salinity regimes ranging from 0.5 to 80 dS m‐1 (NaCl) demonstrated a severe restriction of germination above 20 dS m‐1 and indicated that vegetative propagation is probably the main reproduction strategy in saline environments. The growth of potted plants grown under 5 levels of salinity for a period of 87 days was only affected by salinity exceeding 20 dS m‐1. Yield of plants irrigated with 40 dS m‐1 saline water was nearly half that of the no‐salt control. Mean yield value for plants grown at 20 dS m‐1 reached 18.3 g dry weight (DW) per plant. At this salinity, crude protein content averaged 12.7% mg kg‐1, and shoot iodine contents ranged between 0.8 and 1.4 mg kg‐1 DW, making I. crithmoides a good‐quality feed, and an iodine‐rich vegetable. This species also exhibited ionic relations typical of halophytes, with shoot K/Na ranging between 0.1 and 0.4, indicating that it can substitute Na for K. Inula crithmoides can be a good candidate for use in saline agriculture, provided a selection process is initiated to identify high yielding varieties.