The potential of a salt-tolerant plant (Distichlis spicata cv. NyPa Forage) to treat effluent from inland saline aquaculture and provide livestock feed on salt-affected farmland.

نویسندگان

  • Alan J Lymbery
  • Gavin D Kay
  • Robert G Doupé
  • Gavin J Partridge
  • Hayley C Norman
چکیده

Dryland salinity is a major problem affecting food production from agricultural land in Australia and throughout the world. Although there is much interest in using saline groundwater to grow marine fish on salt-affected farmland, the disposal of nutrient enriched, saline aquaculture effluent is a major environmental problem. We investigated the potential of the salt-tolerant NyPa Forage plant (Distichlis spicata L. Greene var. yensen-4a) to trap nutrients from saline aquaculture effluent and subsequently to provide a fodder crop for livestock. Sub-surface flow wetlands containing NyPa Forage were constructed and their efficacy in removing total nitrogen, ammonia, nitrite/nitrate, total phosphorus and orthophosphate was monitored under different levels of nutrients and salinity. The wetlands removed 60-90% of total nitrogen loads and at least 85% of ammonia, nitrite/nitrate, total phosphorus and orthophosphate loads, with greater efficiency at high nutrient and low salinity levels. The above-ground yield, sodium, crude protein (CP) and in vitro dry matter digestibility (DMD) of NyPa Forage plants were measured after fertilisation with different nutrient levels and cropping at different frequencies. Yield of plants increased with increased nutrient, while nutritive value was greater when nutrients were applied but did not differ among nutrient levels. Yield was not affected by cropping frequency, but nutritive value was greatest when plants were cropped at intervals of 21 or 42 days. At optimum nutrient addition and cropping levels, the plants had a mean CP content of 16.7% and an in vitro DMD of 67.6%, equivalent to an energy value of 9.5 MJ kg(-1). Assuming an equivalent fibre content and voluntary food intake as grass hay, and no accumulation of other toxic minerals, these nutritive values would be sufficient for maintenance or moderate liveweight gains in dry adult sheep or cattle.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Halophytes for the treatment of saline aquaculture effluent

Ž . We determined the feasibility of using salt-tolerant plants halophytes as biofilters to remove nutrients from saline aquaculture wastewater. Suaeda esteroa, Salicornia bigeloÕii and Atriplex Ž . barclayana Chenopodiaceae , species with potential as forage and oil seed crops, were grown in Ž . sand in draining containers lysimeters in a greenhouse experiment. They were irrigated to meet evap...

متن کامل

Review on rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) farming in desert underground Brackish water in Iran

Inland saline aquaculture may offer an opportunity for income diversification and a potentially productive use of land that can no longer support traditional agriculture in salt-affected parts of inland production and investment levels are characteristically low. It needs to develop in a manner that both prevents the further degradation of agricultural land and provides opportunities for an alt...

متن کامل

Saltgrass, a potential future landscaping plant and a suitable species for desert regions: A review

Continuous desertification of arable lands mandates use of low quality/ saline water for irrigation, especially in regions experiencing water shortage. Using low quality/ saline water for irrigation imposes more stress on plants that are already under stress in these regions. Thus, a logical solution will be to find a salt/ drought-tolerant plant species that will survive/sustain under such str...

متن کامل

Salt Tolerant Forages for the Reuse of Saline Drainage Water

Current practices for handling drainage water in the western San Joaquin Valley (WSJV) are not sustainable. The soil quality of 300,000 ha of land in the WSJV is adversely affected by the presence of shallow or perched water (0 to 1.5 m). Without a means of disposing of drainage water, increasing amounts of farmland in the WSJV will become salt impaired, and will be removed from production. Usi...

متن کامل

Influence of cutting height and plant spacing on Sesbania (Sesbania aegyptiaca [Poir]) productivity under hyper-arid conditions in El-kharga Oasis, El-Wadi El-Gaded, Egypt

Search for an adapted forage species for feed production under existing marginal lands and harsh conditions is needed to overcome sever feed shortage in Egypt. Sesbania, Sesbania aegyptiaca (Sesbania sesban, L) has shown potential for forage production and being included in grazing systems, especially on marginal lands and salt–affected soils. An experiment was conducted in the summer of 2004 a...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:
  • The Science of the total environment

دوره 445-446  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2013