Land salinization is a major constraint for the practice of agriculture in the world. Considering the extent of this phenomenon, the rehabilitation of ecosystems degraded by salinization has become a priority to guarantee food security in semi-arid environments. The mechanical and chemical approaches for rehabilitating salt-affected soils being expensive, an alternative approach is to develop and utilize biological systems utilizing salt-tolerant plant species.Casuarinaspecies are naturally halotolerant, but this tolerance has been shown to be improved when they are inoculated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and/or nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Frankia). Furthermore,Casuarinaplantations have been proposed to promote the development of plant diversity. Thus, the aim of the current study was to evaluate the impact of a plantation comprising the speciesCasuarinainoculated with AMF andFrankiaon the diversity of the sub-canopy and adjacent vegetation. Work was conducted on a plantation comprisingCasurina equisetifoliaandC. glaucavariously inoculated withFrankiaandRhizophagus fasciculatusprior to field planting. The experimental area of 2500 m(2)was divided into randomized blocks and vegetation sampling was conducted below and outside of theCasuarinacanopy in 32 m(2)plots. A total of 48 samples were taken annually over 3 years, with 24 taken from below theCasuarinacanopy and 24 from outside the canopy. The results obtained show that co-inoculation withFrankiaandRhizophagus fasciculatusimproves the height and survival rate of both species. After 4-5 years, there was greater species diversity and plant biomass in the sub-canopy environment compared with that of the adjacent environments. Our results suggest that inoculation of beneficial microbes can improve growth ofCasuarinaspecies and that planting of such species can improve the diversity of herbaceous vegetation in saline environments.