RESPONSE OF MESQUITE TO NITRATE AND SALINITY IN A SIMULATED PHREATIC ENVIRONMENT - WATER-USE, DRY-MATTER AND MINERAL NUTRIENT ACCUMULATION

Mesquite plants (Prosopis glandulosa var. Torreyana) were grown in 2-m long columns 20 cm in diameter, and provided with a constant, stable ground water source 10 cm above the sealed base of the column. Ground water contained 0, 1 or 5 m M nitrate, or a mixed salt solution (1.4, 2.8, or 5.6 dS m-1) with the ionic ratios of ground water found in a field stand of Prosopis at Harper's Well (2.8 dS m-1). Water uptake in the highly salinized columns began to decrease relative to low salt columns when soil salinity probes 30 cm above the column base read approximately 28 dS m-1, a potential threshold for mesquite salt tolerance. Prosopis growth increased with increasing nitrate, and decreased with increasing salinity. Water use efficiency was little affected by treatment, averaging approximately 2 g dry matter L-1 water used. Most fine roots were recovered from a zone about 25 cm above the ground water surface where water content and aeration appeared to be optimal for root growth. Root-shoot ratio was little affected by nitrate, but increased slightly with increasing salinity. Plant tissue P concentrations tended to increase with increasing salinity and decrease with increasing N, approaching potentially deficient foliage concentrations at 5 m M nitrate. The whole-plant leaf samples increased in sodium concentration both with added salt and with added nitrate. Foliar manganese concentrations increased with increasing salt in the absence of nitrate. Concentrations of sodium in leaves were low (<10 g kg-1), considering the high salt concentrations in the ground water. Prosopis appears to exclude sodium very effectively, especially from its younger leaves. Although Prosopis is highly salt tolerant, the degree to which it utilizes soil nitrate in place of biologically fixed N may lower its salinity tolerance and affect its nutrient relations in phreatic environments. © 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers.