Growth and Element Compositional Responses of Sporobolus virginicus (L.) Kunth. to Substrate Salinity and Nitrogen

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Abstract
Observations on plant biomass, substrate salinity and soil fertility from natural stands of S. virginicus (L.) Kunth. [a salt marsh plant] indicated a reduction in growth as soil salinity increased and a possible limitation of growth due to lack of available forms of N. The field observations on salinity were tested with a controlled environment experiment where seedlings were grown in a range of NaCl concentrations from 0-80.permill. (ppt) in Hoagland''s solution in a growth chamber. Survival rates were high in all treatments although growth was greatly reduced in the more saline media. Plants grown in the higher salinity media had 3.9% of the biomass of those not stressed by NaCl. Culms, rhizomes and leaves were shorter and culms were less numerous in the salt-stressed plants. There was no evidence of an enhancement in growth due to the presence of NaCl. The N and Mn concentrations in the plants sustained on saline media were high compared to the controls while those for Fe and K were low. There was no increase in biomass due to the N pulse although the N content of the tissue was significantly increased.