Use of halophytes to remove carbon from the atmosphere: Results of a demonstration experiment. Final report
- Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States). Environmental Research Lab.
The project examined the feasibility of using salt-tolerant plants, halophytes, to sequester large quantities of C from the atmosphere and enhance food production in desert regions of the world by using seawater and other saline water sources for irrigation. Field experiments using 40 ppt seawater in a coastal desert site in Mexico recorded biomass yields of 16.7--34.0 t ha{sup {minus}1} yr{sup {minus}1} and C yields of 5.4--10.1 t ha{sup {minus}1} yr{sup {minus}1}for the best candidate species in the genera Atriplex, Batis, Salicornia, Suaeda and Sesuvium. These yields are comparable to high-yielding forestry and agricultural biomass crops. Irrigation requirements and other costs of production were within the range of conventional crops as well. Laboratory and field experiments showed that seawater had an inhibitory effect on the decomposition of halophyte biomass in soil; hence, a strategy for C sequestration in desert soil was proposed, in which halophyte crop by-products would be returned to the soil to store C while the harvested portions would be used for oilseeds and animal feed.
- Research Organization:
- Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); Arizona Univ., Tucson, AZ (United States). Environmental Research Lab.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 10124161
- Report Number(s):
- EPRI-TR-103310; ON: UN94006795; TRN: 94:002685
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Jan 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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