Screening of Indicator Halophytes for Reclamation of Degraded Rangelands
in Saline Coastal Area of Eastern Caspian Sea

A.Chamani¹, N. Birodian², F.Honardoust³

¹ Range Management, College of Range Management, Gorgan, Iran
e-mail: Chamani40@Yahoo.com

² Arid Zones Management, College of Range Management, Gorgan, Iran

³ Arid Zones Management, Head Office Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

Abstract

Sustainable development of saline soils requires either the use of desalinized water, which is expensive, or the introduction of salt tolerant or resistant plants. For this propose, in the rangelands at the eastern coast of Caspian Sea, the physiographic units of area were determined by using FAO method and divided to three types of low land with low slope, flood planes and hilly areas. To study the vegetation characteristics pant communities in physiognomy method were determined. Inside each plant stand the sampling was done through systematic-random plots method. Edaphic and vegetative factors were studied on introduced species of the genera Halocnumum, Aeluropus and puccinellia. The study conducted that the EC and water logging were the controlling factors in the distribution of halophytes. It was concluded that Aeluropus litoralis, puccinellia distans and Atriplex verusiferum were the most tolerant to salinity and suitable for combating desertification.

Keywords: Salinity, Halocnumum, Aeluropus, Puccinellia, water logging