The fertility effects of salt-tolerant herbaceous plants on coastal saline soil

In order to study the influences of salt tolerant plants on the saline soil, field experiments were conducted to investigate the pH, water-soluble salt, soil nutrient in growing season of Sesbania cannabina, Medicago sativa, Sorghum sudanense, Suaeda salsa in coastal saline soil. The pH of soil with four different salt-tolerant plants increased compared with the soil without plants. Four tested plants treatments have obvious function of restraining salt accumulation in 0―20 cm soil layer. The average reduced salt percentage in 0―20 cm soil layer compared with control without plants was 37.12%～45.97%. Soil organic matter, available nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium content compared with control without plants increased by 3.45%～15.5%, 1.37%～22.2%, 13.7%～18.5%, 0.76%～4.30%, respectively. The cultivation of salt tolerant plants has positive effects on improving soil fertility level. The effects of fertilization and plowing treatment on soil nutrient were better than the single plowing treatment although both of the two treatments were significantly better than the control.