Investigation of Possible Production of Oil and Biomass in Biosaline Agriculture

Production of halophytes using saline water and soils in biosaline agriculture is an approach to exploit of untraditional resources in order to food security, without any negative effect on production of conventional crops. Halophytes are capable for using as forage crop, medicinal plant and oil seed crops. Therefore, to study the possibility of oil production by kochia under saline conditions, an experiment was carried out in Salinity Research Station of Agricultural Collage Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Three populations of Kochia, including the Birjand, Borojerd and Sabzevar ecotypes, were irrigated with ground water having electrical conductivity (EC) of 5.2, 10.5 and 23.1 dS m-1. Salinity levels imposed no significant affect on all traits except seed yield, harvest index and weight of 1000 seeds. However, increase salinity up to 10.5 dS m-1 did not markedly decreased seed yield. There were no significant differences between ecotypes. Kochia produced 2.15 ton seed per hectare and showed 22% harvest index. Effect of salinity levels on yield and content of oil was not significant. Production of 10% and 213 kg.h-1 oil by Kochia at high salinity conditions that conventional crops cannot survive, indicated the ability of Kochia for oil seed in biosaline agriculture.