Feasibility of Irrigating Pickleweed (Salicornia bigelovii Torr) with Hyper‐saline Drainage Water

Reuse of drainage water (DW) for irrigation reduces the volume of DW requiring treatment or disposal. We conducted a greenhouse study to evaluate the performance of the halophyte Salicornia bigelovii Torr. when irrigated with hyper‐saline DW and seawater (SW) treatments, ranging from 1/3 strength to full strength (18–49 dS m−1), in a sand‐culture system. Results indicate that Salicornia grows well over the entire range of iso‐osmotic SW and DW salinity treatments. Moreover, when boron (B) was added to SW treatments to concentrations equivalent to that of corresponding 1/3‐ and 2/3‐strength DW treatments (i.e., 9 and 17 mg L−1), growth was not affected, and tissue B concentrations were 78% of ET). The salt content in the tissue was very high (ash content 43–52%), but ionic composition in the shoot tissue reflected that of the treatment water used to irrigate the plants. These data indicate that hyper‐saline DW, characteristic of California's San Joaquin Valley, can be used to irrigate Salicornia and substantially reduce drainage volumes.