ecological engineering 32 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 320–328 available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecoleng Kosteletzkya virginica, an agroecoengineering halophytic species for alternative agricultural production in China’s east coast: Ecological adaptation and benefits, seed yield, oil content, fatty acid and biodiesel properties C.-J. Ruan a,b,∗ , H. Li a , Y.-Q. Guo b , P. Qin b,∗∗ , J.L. Gallagher c , D.M. Seliskar c , S. Lutts d , G. Mahy e a Key Laboratory of Biotechnology & Bio-Resources Utilization, State Ethnic Affairs Commission and Ministry of Education, Dalian Nationalities University, Dalian City, Liaoning 116600, China b Halophyte Research Lab, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China c Halophyte Biotechnology Center, College of Marine Studies, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE 199958, USA d Unit´ e de Biologie v´ eg´ etale, Universit´ e catholique de Louvain, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium e Laboratoire d’Ecologie, Facult´ e des Sciences agronomiques de Gembloux, B-5030 Gembloux, Belgium article info Article history: Received 10 September 2007 Received in revised form 8 December 2007 Accepted 22 December 2007 Keywords: Kosteletzkya virginica Ecological adaptation Ecological benefit Seed yield Oil content Fatty acid Biodiesel Agroecoengineering abstract Kosteletzkya virginica, a perennial halophyte, is native to the American salt marsh. It was introduced into China as a potential species to improve tideland and develop eco- logically sound saline agriculture. The experimental results in the fields over 10 years indicated that K. virginica adapts excellently to the tidal flat habitats in China’s east coast, with multiple ecobenefits such as landscape beautification, revegetation and pro- viding food source for targeted wildlife or migratory birds. Seed yields of unselected mixed and bred lines were 621 kg/ha and 957 kg/ha, respectively. Oil contents in the seeds of the unselected mixed and bred lines were 17.536% and 20.64%, respectively. The unsaturated fatty acids (70.134%) in the seed oil predominated over the satu- rated ones (29.866%). Seed oil of K. virginica could produce a high quality biodiesel, of which the unsaturated C 18 content of the main part was about 68.62% and sul- fur content was 0.0003%. Cetane No. and flash point were both higher than those of diesel fuel, and rust class of steel was lower than that of diesel fuel. These indi- cate that K. virginica could be used as an agroecoengineering species for alternative agricultural production and for revegetation of salt-affected tidal flats in China’s east coast. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ∗ Corresponding author at: Key Laboratory of Biotechnology & Bio-Resources Utilization, State Ethnic Affairs Commission and Ministry of Education, Dalian Nationalities University, Dalian City, Liaoning 116600, China. Tel.: +86 411 87656015; fax: +86 411 87618179. ∗∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 25 83592684; fax: +86 25 83592684. E-mail addresses: ruancj@yahoo.com.cn (C.-J. Ruan), qinpei@nju.edu.cn (P. Qin). 0925-8574/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2007.12.010