Cultivation of Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) under Soil Stress Conditions

Abstract

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) is an edible wild plant that is widely grown in the world, including Türkiye. Purslane plant, which is an important component of Mediterranean cuisine, can grow spontaneously in nature. Stress conditions can directly or indirectly affect the growth and development of plant in the growing environment. In the current study, the effects of stress conditions of soil organic matter content, amount and salinity of irrigation water on plant growth were investigated in the pot experiments. The experiments were carried out in a 72 m² greenhouse established in Dokuz Eylül University Tınaztepe Campus. Soil organic matter doses were 1%, 1.8% (control), 3% and 5% on a dry weight basis. Fifteen purslane seeds were planted in each pot and left to germinate. The Irrigation treatments were 100%, 75%, 50%, 30% and 15% of the field capacity water content. Salinity levels of irrigation water were control (tap water- 0.5 mS/cm), 4 mS/cm, 8 mS/cm and 16 mS/cm. in the experiment had 4 replications and the study composed of 320 pots. The experiments were carried out for 90 days starting from the first day of planting. The increase in organic matter content increased plant germination. The effects of irrigation treatments and salinity levels were evaluated using principal component analysis (PCA). The decrease in water content caısed a significant decrease in plant growth, but the most severe decrease was recorded in 30% and 15% field capacity. The negative effects of salinity on plant growth were most significant at 8 mS/cm and 16 mS/cm salinity levels. The study proves the negative effects of field capacities below 50% and irrigation with saline water over 4 mS/cm on plant growth. Even in the lowest amount of irrigation with high salt content, the highest yield loss is seen to be 56%, drawing attention to the high tolerance of the study purslane plant.