نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
Introduction: Soil salinity and limited natural water resources are some of the most important challenges for food production in arid and semi-arid areas. Substantial management strategies, such as using agronomic methods, including water purification of low-quality sources for irrigation purposes and identifying new salinity-resistant plants, can increase food production. The lack of natural water resources and rapid population growth have a negative effect on irrigated lands in the dry regions of the world, which causes an increase in soil salinity and a decrease in the growth and development of plants. In Iran, due to the fact that about 12.5% of the soil is composed of saline and alkaline soils, the phenomenon of soil salinity is a serious problem, and its importance is increasing day by day. One of the potential approaches for water purification of low-quality irrigation sources is to use natural zeolite as a depth filter. Natural zeolite is a relatively cheap and readily available cation exchanger. Another important management strategy in food production is the cultivation and domestication of salt-resistant species, which can be used to reduce the expansion of land exposed to salinity. Halophytes are plants that have naturally adapted to saline environments.
Materials and Methods: In order to investigate the effect of zeolite desalination on well water and the performance of antidote millet, a factorial experiment was conducted in the form of a randomized complete block design in three replications. For this purpose, pots with a diameter of 20 cm and a height of 25 cm were used. In order to achieve the same soil density in all samples, five kilograms of soil were transferred into the pots considering the zeolite treatment (zero, 10, and 5% of the pot soil weight). This study employed blue panic grass halophyte (Panicum antidotale Retz) as an alternative forage in areas encountering water deficiency. Then, the compatibility of the blue panic grass was investigated by irrigation with the four groundwater sources located in Qom province (Varjan, Khaveh, Qom, and control), as well as three levels of zeolite treatment (0, 5, and 10 %) for desalination.
Results and Discussion: The results showed that the growth measurements of the shoot decreased significantly with increasing salinity levels compared with the control in this plant, At the same time, an increasing trend was observed with the application of zeolite. Root characteristics subjected to zeolite and salinity did not show a similar trend. The reason for this was the effect of salinity and zeolite on soil properties. The increasing salinity levels significantly affected the biochemical indices, such that the proline content increased to 341 mg/g FW and carotenoids to 59.6 µg/g FW, while the concentrations of chlorophyll a and b decreased to 29.10 and 88.7 mg/g FW, respectively. In the presence of zeolite, the contents of carotenoids and chlorophyll a and b increased by 30.5%, 24.6%, and 7.4%, respectively. The findings of this study provide helpful insight into the management of the use of zeolite for the treatment of saline groundwater and the culture of salinity-tolerant plants in arid regions.
Conclusion: In conclusion, this experiment revealed that applying zeolite at 5% and 10% of the soil weight increased the growth indices of the shoot, reduced the degradation of chlorophylls a and b, and reduced proline. Therefore, with the cultivation of anti-toxic millet as a coastal plant and the use of zeolite for desalination and irrigation water management, as well as improving the soil structure, it is possible to improve the area under cultivation of fodder plants in dry areas.
کلیدواژهها English
