Reclamation, Drainage Water Reuse Schemes, and Halophytic Forage Sites

With increased interest by breeders and geneticists in the development of more salt-tolerant grasses at the interspecic and intraspecic levels for turfgrass situations, these same grasses may have value for use on other salt-affected locations, as noted by Duncan and Carrow (2000). Often the superior plant salinity tolerance is in conjunction with other desirable traits such as excellent drought tolerance, high-temperature tolerance, acid soil tolerance, or other abiotic or biotic stress tolerances. Nontraditional uses of grasses initially developed for turfgrass use may include the following: • Reclamation of salt-affected areas (salinity issues are primary stresses) that may or may not be used for a future turfgrass site, but where a halophytic grass would be an essential component of reclaiming the soil (Loch et al., 2003, 2006; Corwin and Bradford, 2008).