Assessment of the oil content of the seed produced by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salicornia</Emphasis> L., along with its ability to produce forage in saline soils

Soil salinity presents a serious threat to crop production. The relatively poor tolerance to this stress agent exhibited by conventional crops incentivizes the search for alternative producers of food and forage in salinity-affected environments. Halophytes belonging to the genus Salicornia L. have been suggested as being able to provide both forage and edible seed oil. Here, a set of 14 Salicornia europaea L. accessions was investigated for their ability to produce seed oil and forage in response to a range of salt concentrations (100, 300 and 600 mM NaCl) in the water used for irrigation. Seed of the accessions was collected from diverse sites close to saline rivers and the sea in Iran. Salinity was shown to have a major effect on biomass yield, and on seed oil yield and composition. The ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids in the seed oil was remarkably high. Forage yield was highest when irrigated with 300 mM NaCl for most of the accessions, while a level of 600 mM NaCl suited the production of seed oil.