Abstract
Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L. is a nutritious edible facultative halophyte. This study aimed to investigate the physiology and quality of M. crystallinum L. grown under different salinities and salt-priming conditions. All plants were first grown in 10% artificial seawater (ASW) for 10 days. After that, some plants remained in 10% ASW while the others were transferred to 20%, 30%, 40%, or 50% ASW for another 10 days. Some plants also underwent a salt priming by transferring them gradually from 10% to 100% ASW over a span of 10 days (defined as salt primed). All plants were green and healthy. However, there were reductions in shoot and root productivity, leaf growth, and water content, but also an increase in leaf succulence after transferring plants to higher salinities. The salt-primed plants showed higher photosynthetic light use efficiency with higher chlorophyll concentration compared to other plants. The concentrations of proline, ascorbic acid (ASC), and total phenolic compounds (TPC) increased as percentages of ASW increased. The salt-primed plants switched from C3 to crassulacean acid metabolism photosynthesis and accumulated the greatest amounts of proline, ASC, and TPC. In conclusion, higher salinities and salt priming enhance the nutritional quality of M. crystallinum L. but compromises productivity.
Highlights
Native to southern and eastern Africa, M. crystallinum L. is a facultative halophyte, which means saline is not a physical requirement for growth [1]
All M. crystallinum L. plants were first grown in 10% artificial seawater (ASW) for 10 days and transferred to different salinities with higher percentages of ASW for another 10 days
All plants continued to grow after salinity conditions were changed (Figure 1)
Summary
Native to southern and eastern Africa, M. crystallinum L. (common ice plant) is a facultative halophyte, which means saline is not a physical requirement for growth [1]. Some researchers consider that M. crystallinum L. belongs to the group “obligatory” halophytes, which requires saline environments for optimal growth [2]. It has high economical value as it has many important uses. In March 2019, the Singapore Food Agency has set a goal of achieving “30 by 30”, which is to develop the capability and capacity of our agri-food industry to locally produce 30% of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030 [6] To ensure that such needs could be met, mass-produced halophytes as vegetables, using saline resources, could be one of the strategies to address water issues
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