Growth and solute pattern of Suaeda maritima and Suaeda asparagoides in an abandoned salt field

To investigate the environmental adaptation and ecophysiological characteristics of Suaeda maritima and S. asparagoides under saline conditions, plant growth and density were analyzed according to environmental changes of habitats. The total ion content of soil decreased with time, which was caused by the predominance of exchangeable $Na^+$ and $Cl^-$ in the upper layers. The population of S. maritima was more densely distributed in the region with higher ion contents of $Cl^-$, $Mg^{2+}$, $K^+$ and $Na^+$ than the population of S. asparagoides. Both species were showed a decreased population density according to increases in plant growth. Under the conditions of a salt field, S. maritima and S. asparagoides contained high inorganic ions to maintain low water potential, but low water soluble carbohydrate contents. In the case of free amino acid, S. maritima showed an especially high proline content, and contained rather large amounts of free amino acids, whereas S. asparagoides did not. Both species showed high inorganic ion contents in the leaves, which might be a mechanism of avoiding the ionic toxicity by diluting the accumulated ionic concentration with a high ratio of water content to dry weight. This result suggests that S. maritima seems to adapt to saline conditions by accumulating proline in addition to inorganic ions. S. asparagoides seems to adapt by osmoregulation processes, using inorganic ions rather than free amino acids.