Effect of Salt Stress on Fodder Yield and Quality of Grass and Non-Grass Halophytes

The present study was aimed to evaluate the nutritional value of grass (Dicanthium annulatum and Urochondra setulosa) and non grass (Suaeda nudiflora) halophytes. For this study, seeds as well as root slips of these grasses and non grass halophytes were collected from extreme saline sodic Kachchh plains, Bhuj, Gujarat and established in microplots. The experiment was designed in two factorial randomized block design having 3 halophytes and 6 different treatments of salinity/sodicity i.e. control (pH₂: 7.1 and ECe: 0.43), sodic (pH₂: 9.5 and 10.0) and saline (ECe: 15, 25, 35 dSm⁻¹) separately. The DM content was found to be 18.09, 39.99 and 41.45% in S. nudiflora, D. annulatum and U. setulosa, respectively. The highest values of CP were observed in S. nudiflora (9.44%) followed by U. setulosa (8.42%) and D. annulatum (5.26%). No significant change was observed in EE content of these halophytes with different salt stress levels in comparison to control. The ash level showed variability between 8.83 (D. annulatum) and 9.58% (S.nudiflora). NDF, ADF and ADL values differed among these halophytes. Non-grass halophyte showed higher (P<0.01) predicted DMI as compared to grass halophytes. The highest and lowest values of digestible DM were 62.91 and 52.63% in U. setulosa and S. nudiflora, respectively. Mean relative feed value index was the highest in U. setulosa (84.84%) followed by S. nudiflora (73.87%) and D.annulatum (68.68%) under different salt stress conditions.