Mineral Balance in Animals as Affected by Halophyte and Salt Tolerant Plant Feeding

Up to 450 million hectares worldwide supports salt tolerant and halophytic plants (Glenn et al. 1999) that produce 4-5 billion tons of biomass each year (Squires et al., this volume). A signifi cant proportion of this total biomass is potentially valuable fodder/forage for livestock. Halophytic plants have many uses: They can be used as animal feeds, vegetables, and drugs, etc. As an animal feed component, halophytes are promising because they have the potentiality of being a good feed resource. The

Desert Research Center, Cairo, Egypt. Email: saai54@hotmail.com

potentialities of halophytes as animal feed components were recognized as early as the 1880s (Hutchings 1965). Yet, this potentiality does not go far because of several constraints that are limiting for which solutions have to be worked out. One of these constraints is the high contents of salts and consequently the high mineral composition. Attia-Ismail (2008) has reviewed in detail the role of minerals in halophyte feeding to ruminants.