article · Agriculture
Soil salinity poses a growing threat to agriculture, prompting interest in salt-tolerant plants to support food security and nutrition. A comparative investigation evaluated the physiological responses of Peucedanum japonicum, an edible and medicinal coastal plant, against barley, a recognised salt-tolerant crop. Seedlings were subjected to varying sodium chloride concentrations over sixteen days. While barley experienced severely impaired leaf growth even at lower salt concentrations, Peucedanum japonicum maintained its growth across all treatments. The wild plant demonstrated a superior capacity to limit sodium and chloride uptake while preserving essential potassium and calcium concentrations in its leaves. It also regulated sulphate, sucrose, and nitrate levels effectively. These physiological adaptations confirm that Peucedanum japonicum operates as a halophyte, using efficient ion balancing to achieve higher salt tolerance than barley.
Rising soil salinity threatens conventional farming and diminishes agricultural productivity worldwide. Identifying naturally resilient, edible plants capable of thriving in saline conditions offers potential alternatives for food and medicinal production. Demonstrating that Peucedanum japonicum tolerates salt better than barley highlights its potential value for farming in salt-affected environments where conventional crops struggle to survive.
The findings point to potential applications for agricultural growers and plant breeders seeking salt-tolerant food and medicinal crops for saline soils. Because the work is early-stage comparative research conducted on seedlings in controlled conditions, substantial further agronomic testing and field trials are required before commercial cultivation or breeding programmes can be realised.
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Soil salinity has emerged as one of the most prominent threats to modern intensive farming systems, and it has necessitated the cultivation of halophytes to ensure food security and human nutrition. Peucedanum japonicum Thunb. is an edible wild plant with medicinal value that is widely distributed along the Pacific coast of western Japan. However, the adaptive mechanisms of this plant with respect to salt stress tolerance have not yet to be elucidated. The purpose of this study was to compare the physiological responses of P. japonicum to salt stress with those of barley (Hordeum vulgare), which is considered a salinity-tolerant plant. Seedlings of both species at the same height were exposed to different concentrations (0, 50, 75, and 150 mM) of NaCl for 16 days, after which the leaves were analyzed with respect to different physiological parameters. The results revealed a maintenance of leaf growth in P. japonicum compared with that in barley, the growth of which was severely impaired at low concentrations of NaCl (50 and 75 mM). In response to salt stress, a higher suppression of Na+ and Cl− assimilations was observed in P. japonicum than in barley under all NaCl treatments. Moreover, P. japonicum showed a greater ability to maintain leaf K+ and Ca2+ concentrations, whereas barley exhibited a significant reduction in the concentrations of these ions under saline conditions. Thus, the superior salinity tolerance of P. japonicum could be attributed to a more efficient maintenance of ionic balances. Taken together, our results indicate that P. japonicum may be classified as a halophyte, given its superior regulation of K+, Ca2+, SO4−, and sucrose concentrations and lower NO3− concentrations compared with those of barley.
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DOI: 10.3390/agriculture10080317
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