The environmental and economic importance of Astragalus Spinosus in land restoration

Astragalus spinousis a native perennial shrubs from Leguminosae family that widely distributed in severely degraded lands at northern Kuwait. A restoration program was applied via levelling and refilling the quarries and rehabilitation of the natural vegetation and wildlife to their original outward appearance before degradation. The existence ofAstragalusshrubs indicated that soil after depth 40 cm was very hard and compacted. Therefore, A. spinosusis considered as one of the efficient native plants in the rehabilitation process for highly degraded lands affected by soil compaction and sealing. TheA. spinosusformed a maximum volume of nabkha deposits up to 1.12 m(3) which makes it one of the effective plants in controlling mobile sand and dust. Every single plant has the capability to save the Kuwait economy by USD 3.6 via trapping mobile sand and saving the infrastructures from sand encroachment as a major challenge.