“Cut and Come Again” Method as a Promoter of the Yield and Quality of Iceplant Pot Culture Under Salinity Conditions

Soil salinization together with the continuous increase in the world population and the consequent demand for food suggests new options to achieve greater sustainable food production and make coastal and other salty areas become productive. Iceplant is a species adapted to the saline environment and with many benefits for humans. The main objective of this work was to improve edible plant growth under salinity conditions in a greenhouse pot experiment. This was done using the “cut and come again” method in iceplant subjected to saline stress. It was observed that the reaping and regrowth harvesting system allows correct growth and nutritional quality of the leaves of iceplant. In fact, this method improved leaf fresh and dry weight under low salinity conditions compared to plants grown without this reaping technique. However, saline conditions such as 300 mM were not very beneficial for growth and the harvesting system had no effect on these high salt concentrations. On the other hand, leaves showed a suitable concentration of organic solutes as well as mineral nutrients. Thus, the reaping and regrowth system is presented as a novel technique in iceplant that allows increasing edible leaf production under low salinity conditions while maintaining its nutritional quality.