Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, one of the most important dryland cereal crops, is moderately tolerant of soil salinity, a rapidly increasing agricultural problem due to inappropriate irrigation management and salt water intrusion into crop lands as a result of climate change. The mechanisms for sorghum’s tolerance of high soil salinity have not been elucidated. This study tested whether sorghum plants adapt to salinity stress via stomatal regulation or osmotic adjustment. Sorghum plants were treated with one of seven concentrations of NaCl (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, or 100 mM). Leaf gas exchange (net CO₂ assimilation (A), transpiration (Tr); stomatal conductance of water vapor (gs), intrinsic water use efficiency (WUE)), and water (Ψw), osmotic (Ψo), and turgor Ψt potentials were evaluated at 40 days after the imposition of salinity treatments. Plants exhibited decreased A, gs, and Tr with increasing salinity, whereas WUE was not affected by NaCl treatment. Additionally, plants exhibited osmotic adjustment to increasing salinity. Thus, sorghum appears to adapt to high soil salinity via both osmotic adjustment and stomatal regulation.

Chlorophyll a fluorescence is a very useful tool in ecophysiological studies to analyze the photosynthetic performance of plants under biotic and abiotic stresses. This research aimed to evaluate the parameters of the fluorescence of chlorophyll a, contents of chlorophyll a, b and total, and carotenoids in Atriplex nummularia cultivated under water stress (37 and 70% of field capacity) and salt stress (irrigation water with electrical conductivity of 0, 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 dS m^-1), besides two sources of salts: NaCl and a mixture of salts of Ca²⁺, Mg⁺², K⁺, Na⁺ and Cl^-, in a 6 x 2 x 2 factorial, with 4 replicates, totaling 96 experimental plots. At 91 days after transplanting, the initial fluorescence (F₀), maximum fluorescence (F_m), potential quantum efficiency of photosystem II (F_v/F_m), F_v/F₀ ratio and the contents of chlorophyll a, b, and total and carotenoids were determined. All assessed parameters decreased as a standard response to salt stress, except F₀, which had, as a characteristic, the increase in its values under stress conditions. The emission parameters for Atriplex nummularia varied with the type of salt present in the irrigation water.

This study aims to investigate the behavior of Atriplex nummularia under field conditions, including its growth, periodic cuttings, salt extraction, and soil chemical properties monitored for 16 months. Three treatments were evaluated: soil cultivated with Atriplex pruned at 6 and 12 months after transplanting (MAT); soil cultivated with plants that were harvested only at the end of the experiment (16 MAT); and a control (uncultivated soil) with four replications. Soil samplings were taken at 0, 6, 12, and 16 MAT. The samples were taken at depths of 0-20, 20-40, 40-60, and 60-80 cm. Biometric variables for growth were monitored monthly. The shoot was divided into leaves, thin stems (< or = 3 mm diameter), and thick stems (> 3 mm diameter) to determine its content of Ca, Mg, Na, K, and Cl. We concluded that pruning regime for Atriplex was efficient mainly because it stimulated regrowth of less lignified material (leaves and stems < or = 3 mm). We found that elements extracted by plant tissue can be quantified accurately, making them valuable indicators of the efficiency of the recovery process. The use of the Atriplex is recommended because the the possibility of revegetating areas inhospitable to most species used in conventional farming.