Salinity stress causes ionic and osmotic stress resulting in cell death, inhibition of growth and ultimate adverse reducing crop productivity. In present study mechanism of salinity tolerance of Aeluropus littoralis under treatment of sodium chloride in four levels of salinity (120, 250, 450 and 600 mM) were investigated by cDNA-AFLP profiling. Salinity reduced the shoot growth, shoot to root ratio and Chlorophyll content and gene silencing was raised with increasing salinity. In 250 mM of salinity the plants had the highest physiological growth and the maximum number of expressed TDFs and also the greatest quality variance than control comparing to other levels of salinity. The results indicated that plants have the best response to salinity in the 250 mM of salinity and this level is appropriate to reveal mechanism of salt tolerance in this halophyte. Seems to silencing of genes that are active in control level, activation of some genes that are silence in control level, reduction expressed TDFs, reduction in Shoot to root ratio and a subsequent reduction in plant growth by salinity treatment is the common mechanism for salinity tolerance in this halophyte so that induction of salinity tolerance by expression of these silenced genes cause increase of growth in stress condition even than control.

Determination of nutritive substances of forage and deficiencies diagnosis assist managers to improve nutrition of ruminants in rangelands.. Nutrition experts believe that deficiency of protein of grains and low energy of woody substances and imbalance of mineral elements of range forage are among the most limiting factor range animal nutrition. Magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium and phosphorus content of dominant and halophyte shrubs of Salsola arbuscula, Salsola richteri, Halothamnus glauca, Seidlitzia rosmarinus species at three phenological stages: vegetative, full flowering and seed dissemination in desert rangeland of Sabzevar was investigated. Samples were taken to laboratory and mineral elements of them were measured. Comparison of mineral elements with the requirement of ruminant showed that the P was lower than its requirement in all three phenological stages. The highest contents of calcium, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium and ash and the least value of potassium belonged to Seidlitzia rosmarinus.

Seasonal changes in antioxidant enzymes activities, amount of water, ash, proline and soluble sugars were surveyed during this research in four halophyte species of Varamin County, Tehran, Iran: Salsola turcomanica Litwin, Suaeda arcuata Bunge, Tamarix leptopetala Bunge and Cressa cretica L. Plants were collected randomly from their natural habitats in spring and summer. Activity of these enzymes in response to environmental stresses such as salinity increased in shoots of most species from spring (May) to summer (Aug). In T. leptopetala catalase and ascorbate peroxidase activities were high while peroxidase activity was low in comparison to other species. Peroxidase activity in the other three species and catalase activity in all species were high. Thus, high activity of one antioxidant enzyme in stress condition may be accompanied by the low activity of other enzymes. According to this research, water amount in S. arcuata and S. turcomanica shoots were high and by the increase of salinity water potential reduced. The amount of ash in shoots and roots of all species increased from spring to summer but it was the most in S. arcuata and S. turcomanica. This could be the result of ion accumulation (especially Na+and Cl-) in salinity condition in these two species. The amount of proline and especially soluble carbohydrates increased in shoots and roots of most species from May to Aug and it was the most in Tamarix and Suaeda.

One of the problems in the field of biological restoration of the wetlands of deserts is the lack of diversity of species compatible with existing conditions and how establishment. Natural potential of moist margin of salt lake in Kashan during a research project entitled "Geochemistry and vegetation cover characteristics of Iranian wetland margins for their biological recovery (identification of habitat potential)" were identified and were zoned areas with different salinity and groundwater levels. Using the information of the above design, in order to enrich the species diversity and biological regeneration of the wet margin of salt lake, the establishment of 6 species of Suaeda fruticosa, Halostachys caspica, Atriplex halimus, Salsola imbricata, Halocnemum strobilaceum, Aeluropus littoralis, based on Complete randomized blocks were studied under species in 3 replicates. In this regard, after collecting the seeds of above mentioned species and determining the genus, they cultivate at the arid and desert areas research station of Kashan, and then cultivate according to the plan of the project implementation. The main trait was evaluated for survival percentage, but traits such as height and diameter of the canopy were also measured during the 5 years of the project. The results were analyzed in SPSS environment and it was determined that H.strobilaceum, S.fruticosa, H.caspica, S.imbricata were 5.67, 5.11, 5.56 and 4.9, each with the highest survival has been implementing the plan for the last 5 years. Considering the high nutritional value and favorable palatability for the camel, it is recommended to cultivate in the wet margin of the salt lake for prevent wind erosion and dust.

The present study was conducted to find the effect of three heavy metals, Ag, Hg and Pb on the expression level of a gene encoding plasma membrane H+-ATPase in Aeluropus littoralis. The experiment was laid out in a completely random design with three replications. Theexpression of the main gene was normalized to the expression of the housekeeping gene actin. Two 259 and 187 bp fragments were amplified from plasma membrane H+-ATPase and actin genes using specific primers in polymerase chain reactions. The results indicated that higher concentrations of all three heavy metals declined the expression of plasma membrane H+-ATPase gene, whereas low concentrations changed the level of its transcript differently. A significant linear correlation was found between Ag concentrations of Aeluropus littoralis shoots and its external level; however, for Hg and Pb no correlations were observed. Root weight decreased when plants were grown at both concentrations of Ag and Hg but increased at both concentrations of Pb and NaCl. Maximum root weight was observed under lower levels of Pb, while maximum shoot weight was observed under lower levels of Hg. The greatest plant weight was obtained at low concentrations of Hg and Pb. Taken together these results show the regulation of plasma membrane H+-ATPase gene by heavy metals suggesting that Aeluropus littoralis can be regarded as a Phytoremediation accumulator of soils polluted with heavy metals.

Chemical composition and metabolizable energy of three camel browsed halophyte species (Atriplex leucoclada, Suaeda fruticosa, Seidlitzia rosmarinus) were assessed and in vitro digestibility of DM (IVDMD), OM (IVOMD), NDF (IVNDFD), ADF (IVADFD) were determined using a completely randomized design. Plant samples were collected based on camel's grazing patterns during the autumn-winter grazing seasons in southern Khuzestan province. The samples were mixed on dry matter basis to provide different combined mixtures (as treatments). Replacing 33. 5 or 66. 5% of A. leucoclada with S. rosmarinus or S. fruticosa reduced OM content and increased Ash content. Also, replacing of A. leucoclada with S. rosmarinus increased ME content. The IVDMD of treatments were different (p<0. 05). Replacing 66. 5% of S. fruticosa with S. rosmarinus and A. leucoclada with S. rosmarinus increased IVOMD. NDF and ADF digestibility of A. leucoclada were higher than those of S. rosmarinus and S. fruticosa, also S. rosmarinus than that of S. fruticosa(p<0. 05). It can be concluded that, three species were not different in terms of metabolizable energy but the combination of A. leucoclada with S. rosmarinus enhanced organic matter digestibility and energetic value.

In order to study the possibility of growing four annual desert halophyte species including Kochia scoparia, Suaeda dimorphestegia, Salsola crassa and Atriplex arcuata in desert environments, irrigating with saline ground water, a research project comprising of three separate experiments was performed during three successive years, 2002-2003, 2003-2004 and 2004-2005. Field experiment carried out in a split plot design in which three levels of saline irrigation water (1.5, 9.5 and 26.0 dS/m) were arranged as main and four halophyte species as sub plots with three replications. There were high significant differences in ground covering, electrolyte leakage, dry matter accumulation and plant hight among halophyte species. Suaeda produced at least twice of dry matter as any other species at any level of salinity. The average dry matter production of this species in three years and at three levels of salinity was 11850 kg/ha, while this amount was 4725, 5136 and 3616 kg/ha for Kochia, Salsola and Atriplex, respectively. Ratio of leaf to shoot weight was varying from 39% in Atriplex to 56% in at full flowering stage. In conclusion, germination and plant stablishment of these four annual halophytes should be explored for domestication. High dry matter production of these species in watering with saline waters of more than 70% of seawater, make them capable for production in very high saline lands, as well as irrigation with high saline waters.

Soil salinity limits crop production and affects developmental aspects at first Leading to reduced plant production. In this study, gene expression analysis based on cDNA-AFLP technique was used to compare the expression profiles of NaCl stress at three levels, 1 week after subculture: 0 (control), 200mM and 400mM, in roots of Aeluropus littoralis which is the closest family to cereal. Among 32 isolated ESTs, 25 ESTs were obtained with the average length of 250 bp. The nucleotide sequences were compared with those in the GenBank database. Approximately 80% of the ESTs show homology to nucleotide or amino acid sequences in the GenBank database and 7 ESTs show no significant similarity in the GenBank database which considered as novel genes. Finally, 25 ESTs were recorded in NCBI database which are included potassium transporter, ribosomal protein, NADH dehydrogenase and golgin. The result of this research is very important to understand molecular basis and resistance mechanisms of drought stress for breeding and genetic engineering to improve crop resistance against stress and the production of resistant plants.