Nitrogen and NaCl salinity effects on the growth and nutrient acquisition of the grasses Aeluropus littoralis, Catapodium rigidum, and Brachypodium distachyum

Salinity and low nitrogen availability are important growth-limiting factors for most plants. Our objective was to assess the influence of nitrogen (N) and salt levels on the growth and mineral nutrition of three forage grasses of varying salt resistance which are widely found in Tunisian salt lands, Aeluropus littoralis, Catapodium, rigidum, and Brachypodium distachyum. Their response to salt and N interaction has not been studied and further investigations are necessary. Twenty day-old plantlets were hydroponically cultivated in Hewitt's nutrient solution. Half the plants were then exposed to 100 mM NaCl and the other half to no NaCl, and N was supplied at 0.5 or 5.0 mM N as NH4NO3. Plants were harvested after 60 d growth. Saline treatment (100 mM NaCl) decreased growth of B. distachyum (a relatively salt-sensitive plant), but no significant effect was noted for A. littoralis (a relatively salt-resistant plant) in both low- and high-N availability treatments. However, the effect of 100 mM NaCl on growth of C. rigidum (a moderately salt-resistant plant) depended on N level. Increasing N availability and NaCl did not influence phosphate, sulfate, calcium, and magnesium concentrations in both A. littoralis and C. rigidum, but increased N supply reduced shoot sodium and chloride (Cl-) accumulation. Potassium acquisition in A. littoralis and C. rigidum plants was severely depressed by increasing N availability under saline and nonsaline conditions, respectively. In these species, the increase of nitrate accumulation via N was attenuated by salinity. In contrast, total N content and allocation toward shoots were enhanced in these conditions, especially in A. littoralis, the most resistant species. It appears that increasing N availability at moderate salt levels has a beneficial effect on growth of species with high and moderate salt resistance, but not on species with low resistance to salinity.