Avenues for increasing salt tolerance of crops, and the role of physiologically based selection traits

Avenues for increasing salt tolerance of crops, and the role of physiologically based selection traits

Increased salt tolerance is needed for crops grown in areas at risk of salinisation. This requires new genetic sources of salt tolerance, and more efficient techniques for identifying salt-tolerant germplasm, so that new genes for tolerance can be introduced into crop cultivars. Screening a large nu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Plant and soil Vol. 247; no. 1; pp. 93 - 105
Main Authors: Munns, Rana, Husain, Shazia, Rivelli, Anna Rita, James, Richard A., Condon, A.G. (Tony), Lindsay, Megan P., Lagudah, Evans S., Schachtman, Daniel P., Hare, Ray A.
Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht Kluwer Academic Publishers 01-11-2002
Springer
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Crops
Cultivars
Durum wheat
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetic diversity
Genotypes
Phenotypic traits
Physiology
Plants
Salinity
Salinization
Salt
Salt tolerance
Salts
Sodium
Soil salinity
Soil solution
Symposium: Salinity and plant - soil - water relations
Wheat
salinity
sodium
durum wheat
molecular markers
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Summary:Increased salt tolerance is needed for crops grown in areas at risk of salinisation. This requires new genetic sources of salt tolerance, and more efficient techniques for identifying salt-tolerant germplasm, so that new genes for tolerance can be introduced into crop cultivars. Screening a large number of genotypes for salt tolerance is not easy. Salt tolerance is achieved through the control of salt movement into and through the plant, and salt-specific effects on growth are seen only after long periods of time. Early effects on growth and metabolism are likely due to osmotic effects of the salt, that is to the salt in the soil solution. To avoid the necessity of growing plants for long periods of time to measure biomass or yield, practical selection techniques can be based on physiological traits. We illustrate this with current work on durum wheat, on selection for the trait of sodium exclusion. We have explored a wide range of genetic diversity, identified a new source of sodium exclusion, confirmed that the trait has a high heritability, checked for possible penalties associated with the trait, and are currently developing molecular markers. This illustrates the potential for marker-assisted selection based on sound physiological principles in producing salt-tolerant crop cultivars.
ISSN:0032-079X
1573-5036
DOI:10.1023/A:1021119414799