Comparative salt-tolerance of ornamental trees and shrubs for Victorian field planting.  J. D. Morris.  June 1984.  20 pp. (unpubl.)

SUMMARY

A series of glasshouse and growth-room trials were conducted to determine the relative salt-tolerance of 168 native and exotic tree and shrub species, as an improved basis for predicting their performance under saline conditions in the field. Salt-tolerance was assessed in terms of the survival of plants irrigated with nutrient solution containing sodium chloride at increasing concentrations up to 0.95 M. An objective classification of the species into groups of similar salt-tolerance was derived, based on the distribution of species survival scores.

Although the results of these trials are a useful guide for recommending species for field planting, there remains a need for confirmation under field conditions. The application of the results obtained is limited by the possibility of interactions between salinity another site factors, by the age of the seedlings screened, by the possibility of provenance variation in some species and by the ‘concentration gradient’ method used for screening.