The euhalophyte species Salicornia europaea is cultivated for oilseed and as a fodder crop in various parts of the world. In saline coastal environments it possesses great potential for the subsistence of the most disadvantaged farmers. We investigated the effect of salinity levels in irrigation water on the germination capacity, shoot biomass and seed productivity as well as diverse quality traits (nitrogen content in shoots and seeds and fatty acids, in seeds) and physiological traits (stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes and ion content) of two accessions collected in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The three salinity levels tested were irrigation with fresh water (0.3 dS m-1), brackish water (25 dS m-1) and sea water (40 dS m-1). In addition, a hypersaline condition (80 dS m-1) was also tested for germination. The best germination rates were achieved with seeds exposed to fresh and brackish water, while imbibition with sea water decreased germination by half and hypersaline water inhibited it almost totally. However, the best irrigation regime in terms of biomass and seed yield involved brackish water. Moreover, rising salinity in the irrigation increased the stable isotope composition of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N), together with the Na+ and K+ of shoots and seeds, and the lipid levels of seeds, while the total nitrogen content and the profile of major fatty acids of seeds did not change. Differences between the two ecotypes existed for growth and seed yield with the best ecotype exhibiting lower δ13C and higher K+ in both shoots and seeds, lower Na+ and higher δ15N in shoots, and lower N in seeds, together with differences in major fatty acids. Physiological mechanisms behind the response to irrigation salinity and the ecotypic differences are discussed in terms of photosynthetic carbon and nitrogen metabolism.

Wild plants supply food and shelter to several organisms; they also act as important sources of many nutrients and pharmaceutical agents for mankind. These plants are widely used in traditional medicinal systems and folk medicines. The present study analyzed the nutritional and proximate composition of various compounds in selected wild plants available in the UAE, viz., Chenopodium murale L., Dipterygium glaucum Decne., Heliotropium digynum Asch. ex C.Chr., Heliotropium kotschyi Gürke., Salsola imbricata Forssk., Tribulus pentandrus Forssk., Zygophyllum qatarense Hadidi. The predominant amino acids detected in the plants were glycine, threonine, histidine, cysteine, proline, serine, and tyrosine; the highest quantities were observed in H. digynum and T. pentandrus. The major fatty acids present were long-chain saturated fatty acids; however, lauric acid was only present in S. imbricata. The presence of essential fatty acids such as oleic acid, α-Linoleic acid, and linolenic acid was observed in H. digynum, S. imbricata, and H. kotschyi. These plants also exhibited higher content of nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, ash, and fiber. The predominant vitamins in the plants were vitamin B complex and vitamin C. C. murale had higher vitamin A, whereas vitamin B complex was seen in T. pentandrus and D. glaucum. The phosphorus and zinc content were high in T. pentandrus; the nitrogen, calcium, and potassium contents were high in H. digynum, and D. glaucum. Overall, these plants, especially H. digynum and T. pentandrus contain high amounts of nutritionally active compounds and important antioxidants including trace elements and vitamins. The results from the experiment provide an understanding of the nutritional composition of these desert plant species and can be better utilized as important agents for pharmacological drug discovery, food, and sustainable livestock production in the desert ecosystem.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.), an Andean crop, is a facultative halophyte food crop recognized globally for its high nutritional value and plasticity to adapt to harsh conditions. We conducted a genome-wide association study on a diverse set of quinoa germplasm accessions. These accessions were evaluated for the following agronomic and biochemical traits: days to 50% flowering (DTF), plant height (PH), panicle length (PL), stem diameter (SD), seed yield (SY), grain diameter (GD), and thousand-grain weight (TGW). These accessions underwent genotyping-by-sequencing using the DNBSeq-G400R platform. Among all evaluated traits, TGW represented maximum broad-sense heritability. Our study revealed average SNP density of ≈ 3.11 SNPs/10 kb for the whole genome, with the lowest and highest on chromosomes Cq1B and Cq9A, respectively. Principal component analysis clustered the quinoa population in three main clusters, one clearly representing lowland Chilean accessions, whereas the other two groups corresponded to germplasm from the highlands of Peru and Bolivia. In our germplasm set, we estimated linkage disequilibrium decay to be ≈ 118.5 kb. Marker-trait analyses revealed major and consistent effect associations for DTF on chromosomes 3A, 4B, 5B, 6A, 7A, 7B and 8B, with phenotypic variance explained (PVE) as high as 19.15%. Nine associations across eight chromosomes were also found for saponin content with 20% PVE by qSPN5A.1. More QTLs were identified for PL and TGW on multiple chromosomal locations. We identified putative candidate genes in the genomic regions associated with DTF and saponin content. The consistent and major-effect genomic associations can be used in fast-tracking quinoa breeding for wider adaptation across marginal environments.

Scarce water resources, high temperatures, limited rainfall, elevated soil salinity, and poor soil quality (98% sand) challenge crop production in the desert regions of the Middle East. Proso millet’s resilience under these stresses presents a potential solution for enhancing food security in arid environments. This field study evaluated 24 proso millet genotypes under three environments (100% freshwater, 50% freshwater, and 10 dS/m salinity) in the UAE during normal and summer seasons, aiming to identify genotypes resilient to water, heat, and salinity stresses and to assess genotype-by-environment (G × E) interactions and key traits associated with grain yield. ANOVA indicated significant G × E interactions. Genotypes G9 and G24 displayed high yield and stability across environments during the normal season. In the summer, genotypes G7 and G10 exhibited resilience with high yields under high-temperature stress alone, while combined stresses led to yield reductions across all genotypes, with greater susceptibility under cumulative stress. GGE biplot analysis identified G9 as ideal in the normal season, while G15 and G23 demonstrated stability under combined stresses in the summer season. High chaffy grain yield (CGY) observed under summer stress conditions suggests a shift in resource allocation away from productive grain formation. The reproductive phase was highly vulnerable to heat stress, with 88% of this period experiencing daytime temperatures exceeding 40 °C, with a peak reaching up to 49 °C. These extreme conditions, coinciding with the crop’s critical growth stages, triggered a significant increase in chaffy grain production, substantially reducing overall grain yield. Despite these challenges, genotypes G7, G10, and G12 exhibited notable resilience, maintaining yields above 0.75 t ha⁻¹. Correlation analysis suggested that selecting for increased plant height, forage yield, and 1000-grain weight (TGW) could enhance grain yield under the normal and summer conditions. This study highlights the potential of proso millet genotypes as climate-resilient options for arid regions, providing a basis for developing stress-tolerant varieties and promoting sustainable agriculture in desert climates.

<!----> <!----> Quinoa is considered to be a salt-tolerant crop and has the potential to be cultivated in marginal lands with salinity problems. The introduction of salinity-tolerant quinoa accessions to the salt-affected farmlands around the world could help to rebuild the economies of affected regions. It would also provide a nutritious food to local communities. To find the salinity-tolerance in different cultivars of quinoa, field experiments were conducted at low and high salinities, at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai, UAE. The yield trials were done in randomized complete block design experiments with 3 reps and 2 salinity treatments: low salinity (0.3 dS/m) and high salinity (15 dS/m). Eleven quinoa cultivars and one djulis variety were analyzed to detect their tolerance against high salinity. The agronomic and morphological characteristics measured were days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, the number of primary branches per plant, the number of panicles per plant, main panicle length, plant dry weight per plot, grain yield per plot, and thousand seeds weight. <!----> <!---->