UNCORRECTED PROOF Short communication Panicum turgidum, a potentially sustainable cattle feed alternative to maize for saline areas M. Ajmal Khan a , Raziuddin Ansari a , Haibat Ali a , Bilquees Gul a , Brent L. Nielsen b, * a Institute of Sustainable Halophyte Utilization, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan b Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA 1. Introduction In many parts of the world urban expansion is encroaching into surrounding prime agricultural lands. At the same time, many regions have seen an increase in soil salinity due to heavy long- term irrigation practices and intense land utilization. This has resulted in growing pressure on arable land and good quality non- saline water and has greatly reduced crop productivity in many regions of the world, including many poor and developing nations. At the same time, there has been a substantial increase worldwide in livestock and meat/milk production. However, the availability of good quality animal forage is unable to meet the current demand. Therefore, an urgent need exists to find alternate methods to increase forage production. The identification and development of salt tolerant fodder crops may help address the scarcity of good quality water in many arid agricultural regions of the world where vast reserves of saline and brackish water exist. Many halophytes are able to produce high biomass under saline conditions. Halophytes have long been known to be a valuable resource for utilizing saline lands and brackish water. Their potential as animal feed, however, has remained relatively unfulfilled. In the past few decades the effect of salt in drinking water and feed on animal health and meat quality/quantity has received scientific scrutiny (Wilson, 1966; Walker et al., 1971; Hopkins and Nicholson, 1999; Thomas et al., 2007) with limited success (Weston et al., 1970; Weston, 1996; Wilson and Kennedy, 1996; Norman et al., 2004). Scientists in various parts of the world have attempted to partially or completely replace regular fodder with a variety of halophytes. Diplachne fusca (Kallar grass, Malik et al., 1986) and Distichlis spicata (Yensen, 2006) can be cited as examples of potential halophytic grasses, but no integrated studies appear to have been done with either for use as cattle feed. Halophytes that accumulate salt (accumulators) are generally unsuitable as fodder crops due to high salt content, and therefore a plant that does not take up salt (salt excluder) is preferred as a feed crop. However, salt excluders are associated with increases in soil salinity when irrigated with brackish water. Under these condi- tions a combination of both a salt excluder, which is fed to animals, and a salt accumulator which is grown in the same plot of land but separately harvested, may provide a valid solution. We report here preliminary results on the characterization of Panicum turgidum as a potential sustainable feed crop when grown in conjunction with Suaeda fruticosa. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Identification of suitable species Extensive surveys of the Sindh/Balochistan coast of Pakistan were conducted in which several herdsmen and herbalists of that Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment xxx (2008) xxx–xxx 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 28 July 2008 Received in revised form 1 October 2008 Accepted 23 October 2008 Available online xxx Keywords: Halophyte crops Cattle feeding trial Maize substitute in cattle feed Sustainable halophyte production Panicum ABSTRACT Salinity of soil and water has been a major impediment to plant growth and crop production worldwide, and a viable solution is not forthcoming, at least in the near future. One potential means for addressing this problem lies in cultivating plant species that are able to tolerate the adverse conditions prevailing in such situations. A search among halophytic plant species to find suitable fodder replacement for calves has been successful in identifying a local perennial grass, Panicum turgidum, with biomass yields of about 60,000 kg/ha/year (fresh weight) when grown in saline soil (EC 10–15 mS cm À1 ) irrigated with brackish water (EC 10–12 mS cm À1 ). When grown with a salt accumulator (Suaeda fruticosa) in adjacent rows and with frequent irrigation, this system may be sustainable in terms of soil salt balance, with little change in soil salinity detected. Panicum was used as a complete replacement for maize in a cattle feeding trial and resulted in equivalent growth and meat production. Implementation of this system should allow saline land and brackish water to be used for producing an economically beneficial feed crop. ß 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: brentnielsen@byu.edu (B.L. Nielsen). G Model AGEE 3315 1–5 Please cite this article in press as: Khan, M.A., et al., Panicum turgidum, a potentially sustainable cattle feed alternative to maize for saline areas. Agric Ecosyst Environ (2008), doi:10.1016/j.agee.2008.10.014 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/agee 0167-8809/$ – see front matter ß 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2008.10.014