Abstract

Soil salinity is one of the utmost abiotic stresses in the world. It severely limits yields and threatens land productivity in arid and semi-arid regions of the Mediterranean area, which leads to a reduction in cultivable areas and represents a threat to the environmental balance of these regions. Identifying more adapted species and the selection of variety tolerant to salinity would remain the most efficient economic way to exploit the salt-affected lands. P. maritimum L. is one of the best known endangered species in its natural habitats due to urbanization, tourism development and overharvesting. This research aims to study the physiological and biochemical characteristics and their evolutions in the different vegetative stages of a plant from the northern Tunisian coast (Pancratium maritimum). The results showed significant plant behavior differences depending on the growth stage. The mature stage shows the highest biomass production and the growth in length. Thus, this plant maintains a high relative leaf water content (90.19%) and is considered a species resistant to drought and salinity. In addition, germination of seeds under different salt concentrations to enhance the ability of the plant to adapt to high salt concentrations (200 Mm NaCl) showing a slow cycle of germination of the plant. This plant is rich in vegetable fibers and polyphenols, so the seeds are loaded with Total Nitrogenous Matter (TMA), which is suggested as a fodder plant.