Soil–Plant Relationships in Saline Wastelands: Vegetation, Soils, and Successional Changes, During Biological Amelioration

Abstract

An ecological survey of undisturbed saline wastelands and adjacent fields of Kallar Grass ( Leptochloa fusca ) was undertaken to study species distribution in relation to soil conditions and changes in species composition during amelioration processes. Five plant communities, represented by Atriplex crassifolia C.A. Mey., Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers., Desmostachya bipinnata (L.) Stapf, Suaeda fruticosa (L.) Forssk., and Eleusine flagellifera Nees, had colonized undisturbed areas. Soils of plant communities dominated by these species showed significant variations in salinity and sodicity. S. fruticosa was dominant on highly saline–sodic soil, Cynodon on slightly saline and moderately sodic soil, whereas D. bipinnata showed little variation in cover percentage with changes in salinity and sodicity of soil. These three species had wide ecological amplitude compared with E. flagellifera and A. crassifolia , which were restricted to non-saline and marginally saline–sodic soils, respectively.