Growth characteristics of halophytes and forage crops under salt concentrations

South Korea is largely dependent on imports of forage crops. In order to raise the self-sufficiency rate of forage crops, it is necessary to cultivate forage crops in 135,100 ha reclaimed land of South Korea. This study was conducted to investigate the growth of halophytes and forage crops in order to search for stable plants on reclaimed land. The plants were cultured in Hoagland solution and grown at 0%, 0.5%, 1.0% and 2.0% of salt concentrations. Plants with good growth at 0.5% of salt concentration were halophytes such as Suaeda asparagoides and Salsola komarovii. Salicornia herbacea and Suaeda maritima showed good growth at 2.0% salinity, and Suaeda maritima showed stable growth at all of salt concentrations. In conclusion, Suaeda asparagoides showed the best growth at 0.5% of salt concentration and was considered the most biomass at reclaimed land in Korea with less than 0.5% of salt concentration.