PHYSIO-BIOCHEMICAL ANALYSES OF SELECTED HALOPHYTES FROM THE SALINE REGIONS OF PAKISTAN AND THEIR POTENTIAL FOR BIOSALINE AGRICULTURE IN ARID ENVIRONMENTS

Biosaline agriculture is used for growing of salt tolerant crops by using high saline water and soils, especially in the arid lands. Halophytes, due to their high salinity tolerance can be used directly as forage after multilateral evaluations. In Pakistan, many areas are highly salt affected including Salt Range (SR) and some areas of Faisalabad region. In the current study, different plant species such as Aeluropous lagopoides (L.), Cenchrus ciliaris (L.), Heliotropium crispum, Heliotropium curassavicum, Cyperus arenarius (Retz.), Heliotropium europaeum (L.) and Dichanthium annulatum were collected from the Salt Range as well as Faisalabad region. The results showed that C. ciliaris, C. arenarius and H. crispum exhibited higher biomass than the other plant species. Spatial variation between species of both regions was significant in terms of biomass production, chlorophyll contents, osmolytes production (glycinebetaine, proline) and activities of enzymatic antioxidants (catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase). Specimens of Faisalabad region (Cenchrus ciliaris, Cyperus arenarius and D. annulatum) showed high fresh and dry biomass production than that of Salt Range area. On the other side, specimens of Salt Range showed elevated level of oxidative defense mechanism (SOD, POD, and CAT) due to high salt level in the soil. H. europaeum, Cyperus arenarius and Cenchrus ciliaris were highly responsive to saline conditions of Salt Range area. Above all, H. europaeum, Cyperus arenarius and Cenchrus ciliaris were highly adaptive to saline conditions in terms of plant biomass and oxidative stress tolerance.