Effect of Soil Salinity on Tree Growth in Yellow River Delta Region

At present the environment in Yellow River delta region is particularly badly eroded. In view of the situation, use of vegetation for environmental protection is most effective. In order to select suitable tree species, some physiological parameters such as proline content, ratio of bound water and free water, relative conductivity of leaves were applied to this experiment to probe the capability of trees to resist salinity stress. Based on the testing results, these tree species such as R. hispida, F. velutina, C. korshinskii, N. sibirica, T. chinensis, R. typhina, S. matsudana, A. fruticosa and A. altissima were chosen and planted in the area. The result of stand inventory implemented in the year showed that these trees grew well, especially for L. chinense, the biggest height increment reached 1.73 m, and the mean was 1.45 m; and the biggest basal diameter was 1.52 cm, the mean was 1.21 cm. Hence it was concluded that planting trees could prevent soils from salinization and protect lands from degradation.