Reclamation of saline lands with halophytes in Arid Oases, Northwest China

1)Identification of the species present in the oasis; 2)Sampling soil samples in the rhizosphere for the identification and isolation of useful arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which may help plants to survive in the area; 3)Sampling soil samples, separated from the roots, to identify possible PGPBs useful to augment plant survival in the study area.In 2015 a mission carried out in the oasis targeted by this study confirmed the previous classifications / identifications of halophyte species; a Table is attached with scientific name and photo. In addition, the rhizosphere soil of the halophyte plant species was sampling to detect the presence of AMF potentially useful. Simultaneously we also recovered the seeds of each plant to proceed, to the isolation, in Italy, of the AMF species present in the sampled soils through trapping plants (details in section 7).The material led to successfully: 1) isolate and amplified AMF DNAs directly from the 11 rhizosphere soils sampled, 2) detect AMF spores from the soil sampled under Lycium ruthenicum, Lycium chinense, Peganum nigellastrum, Suaeda salsa, Reaumuria songarica and Nitraria sibirica, 3) isolate and amplified DNA from some trap-plant roots (Lycium ruthenicum, Lycium chinense, Peganum nigellastrum, Trifolium sp.).At the time of writing this report PCR products obtained from the amplification of soils and root DNAs, using AMF specific primers, are under sequencing in order to phylogenetically identify AMF present in the study area. Additionally, trap-plant roots were stained with cotton blue and the slides for the morphological observations (in progress) have been prepared. Moreover we have identified, among all shrubs and herbaceous plants recovered from the area, those species more suitable for the next greenhouse experiment with soils sampled in 2016. With regard to objective 3) in the summer of 2016 we took soil samples, always from the plants reported in the list above, the soil was scratched from the roots. These samples showed bacterial populations that will be isolated and characterized for their capacity as PGPB as well as by DNA sequencing in order to obtain a phylogenetic relationship. Other results were the publication of a manuscript concerning the data collected in the previous joint project and a submission to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of a project proposal in which Dr. Tedeschi is involved as supervisor of the task on modeling crop response to climate. The MOST project was approved, and it supported the Chinese experimental station located in the oasis of study.