Reclamation of saline lands with halophytes in Arid Oases, Northwest China- L' efficacia delle alofite nella bonifica di suoli salinizzati: applicazione nel Nord Ovest della Cina

the halophyte have the potential to be used in phytoremediation because are able to survive under dry and saline conditions We believe that prolonged cultivation of halophyte could be a solution in decreasing the soil salinity in Minqin Oasis. The continuous cultivation will be an indirect benefit because will contribute to avoid the abandon of the land with negative consequences on environmental conditions and the cultivation will contrast the desert advance. The cultivation of the above families plants can also generate income for the area. Some species of these families are naturally present in the Oasis and are used for the local medical practice. On the other hand no study to evaluate salt accumulation in these species has been carried out yet to assess their effectiveness to remove salt from the soil. Some studies estimate that Atriplex nummularia have achieved a biomass yield of 20-30 t ha-1 year-1 and accumulated up to 40% NaCl in its dry matter. Suadea. maritima and Suadea. portulacastrum exhibited greater accumulation of salts in their tissues and higher reduction of salts in the saline land. These two halophytes could remove 504 and 474 kg of sodium chloride, respectively, from the saline land from1 ha in 4 months time.Unfortunately in literature few are the scientific contributions (e.g. Ravindran et al. 2007) about the evaluation of the quantity of saline soil which can be removed by the plants. Several publications describe the potential of some species in salt remove but data for more than one year are not reported. It is difficult to evaluate the capacity of a species and consequently the advantages/disadvantages that could come from such a technique.The project aim select the most suitable, from the environment and climatic point of view, halophyte species for the study area and cultivate them for the 3 years. The Chinese partner has a field station with the corresponding instruments and over 10 ha wasted land in the area which can guarantee the implementation of this experiment for a long time. The Chinese partner has several projects concerning this study which will provide the fund to support this experiment. From the joint point of view, after 3 years a preliminary evaluation of the salt removal from the soil by the plant cultivation will be estimated and by the results some best agronomic practices can be drawn to desalinize the soil