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Impacts of waterlogging and salinity on puccinellia (Puccinellia ciliata) and tall wheatgrass (Thinopyrum ponticum): zonation on saltland with a shallow water-table, plant growth, and Na+ and K+ concentrations in the leaves

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Abstract

This paper focuses on the causes of zonation on agricultural land affected by secondary salinity between two halophytic grasses, puccinellia (Puccinellia ciliata Bor. cv. Menemen) and tall wheatgrass (Thinopyrum ponticum (Podp.) Z.-W. Liu & R.R.-C. Wang cv. Tyrrell). We hypothesized that the differences in zonation of puccinellia and tall wheatgrass were caused primarily by differences in the tolerance of these two species to waterlogging under saline conditions. This hypothesis was tested by conducting experiments in the field and in the glasshouse in irrigated sand cultures. At a saltland field site, locations dominated by puccinellia had ECe values that were consistently higher (11–12 dS/m in early spring, and 5–9 dS/m in late summer) than locations dominated by tall wheatgrass. However locations dominated by puccinellia also had a watertable that was shallower (0.07–0.09 m in the high rainfall season; 0.11–0.13 m in the low rainfall season) than locations dominated by tall wheatgrass. In the glasshouse both species had similar growth responses to salinity under drained conditions, with a 50% decrease in shoot dry mass (DM) at ∼300 mM NaCl. However, the combination of salinity (250 mM NaCl) and waterlogging increased puccinellia shoot DM by 150% but decreased shoot DM of tall wheatgrass by 90% (compared with salinity alone). Under saline/waterlogged conditions, puccinellia showed better exclusion of Na+ and maintenance of K+/Na+ in the shoots than tall wheatgrass. We conclude that the zonation of puccinellia and tall wheatgrass is associated with differences in their ion regulation which leads to substantial differences in their growth under saline/waterlogged conditions.

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Abbreviations

D:

drained

DAS:

days after sowing

DM:

dry mass

ECa :

apparent soil electrical conductivity

ECe :

electrical conductivity of the saturated soil paste extract

SEM:

standard error of the mean

WL:

waterlogged

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Acknowledgements

Thanks are extended to Mr Peter Macleay for providing the field site. This work was supported by the CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity, the Sustainable Grazing on Saline Lands initiative and The University of Western Australia. Thanks for comments on the research are extended to Dr Tim Colmer, Dr Phil Nichols and Dr Sergey Shabala. We are also grateful for the comments of the Section Editor and two anonymous referees. The experiments reported in this paper complied with relevant laws of the State of Western Australia and the Commonwealth of Australia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Geographical Sciences (M087), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Sommer Jenkins & Zed Rengel

  2. Centre for Ecohydrology (M084), Department of Agriculture and Food of Western Australia, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Edward G. Barrett-Lennard

  3. School of Plant Biology (M084), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Edward G. Barrett-Lennard

  4. Future Farm Industries Cooperative Research Centre, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Sommer Jenkins & Edward G. Barrett-Lennard

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  1. Sommer Jenkins
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Correspondence to Edward G. Barrett-Lennard.

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Responsible Editor: Timothy J. Flowers.

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Jenkins, S., Barrett-Lennard, E.G. & Rengel, Z. Impacts of waterlogging and salinity on puccinellia (Puccinellia ciliata) and tall wheatgrass (Thinopyrum ponticum): zonation on saltland with a shallow water-table, plant growth, and Na+ and K+ concentrations in the leaves. Plant Soil 329, 91–104 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-009-0137-4

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