ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
This article is part of the Research TopicAdaptability and productivity of plants in intercropping under environmental changesView all articles
Mitigation of Salinity Stress in Sesbania through Inter-cropping with the Halophyte Hedysarum scoparium in Dry-Land Conditions
Provisionally accepted
- Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Ürümqi, China
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Salinity severely limits fodder crop productivity in dry-land regions by inducing ionic imbalance, osmotic stress, oxidative damage, and metabolic dysfunction. This study evaluated the growth, physiological, and biochemical responses of Sesbania (sesban (L.) Merr.) under mono-cropping and inter-cropping systems with the halophyte Hedysarum scoparium Fisch. et Mey. (HS). The crops were grown under both saline and fresh water irrigation. Inter-cropping with HS significantly alleviated salinity stress in Sesbania by improving ionic balance and reducing stress related metabolite accumulation. Under saline conditions, inter-cropped Sesbania showed higher chlorophyll content, enhanced photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids, and chlorophyll a/b ratio), and improved growth traits, including plant height, biomass per plant, and total fodder yield, compared with mono-cropped plants. Furthermore, inter-cropping increased stress responsive proteins and antioxidant enzyme activities, particularly catalase and ascorbate peroxidase, resulting in reduced hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde levels. Overall, inter-cropping Sesbania with HS reduces ionic and oxidative stress, leading to improved physiological performance. Consequently, this system offers a sustainable and cost effective strategy for enhancing fodder production in saline dry-land environments.
Keywords: Dry-land, Fodder, Halophytes, Inter-Cropping, Saline irrigation
Received: 28 Nov 2025; Accepted: 27 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Azeem and Mai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ahmad Azeem
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