Nutritional valuation and food safety of endemic mediterranean halophytes species cultivated in abandoned salt pans under a natural irrigation scheme

Abstract

Recent global changes have contributed to water scarcity and land degradation, urging for the development of alternative solutions in agriculture. Halophytes biosaline agriculture has been viewed in the past decades as a potential alternative to traditional agriculture practices in degraded lands and salinized soils. Abandoned salt pans provide ideal areas for halophyte cultivation, such as Halimione portulacoides (sea purslane), Sarcocornia fruticosa (shrubby swampfire), Atriplex halimus (sea orache), Beta maritima (sea beet), Inula crithmoides (golden samphire) and Suaeda vera (shrubby seablite). The use of a natural irrigation scheme with estuarine water for food production is a rather novel practice in the Mediterranean area. In the present work, we evaluate the nutritional value of these six halophytes cultivated in abandoned salt pans, irrigated with natural estuarine water. The halophytes produced under this cultivation scheme resulted in vegetable products with a high nutritional value. These edible halophyte presented low sugar content and high protein, omega-3 fatty acids and β-cryptoxanthin contents, together with a valuable source of highly concentrated phenolic and flavonoid anti-oxidant molecules. Moreover, these halophytes provide several mineral elements which are normally scarce in modern human diets (e.g. iodine and selenium), and very low concentrations, below the maximum thresholds, of carcinogenic elements. When compared to traditional vegetables, such as spinach, halophytes presented a high nutritional value, reinforcing the application of these cultivation schemes as means to attain highly nutritive alternative vegetable sources for a healthier human diet.