Options for Developing Salt-tolerant Crops

Abstract

Soil salinization is an increasing problem worldwide and is often intensified by irrigation. Unfortunately, few new crop cultivars have been developed resistant to saline soils, a consequence, in part, of the complexity of plant responses to salt stress. There are now, however, several non-traditional options to improving salt tolerance as a result of recent progress in better understanding the mechanisms involved. These mechanisms include 1) exclusion of Na+ and Cl– from plant tissues; 2) inclusion of these ions in inert compartments or tissues; and/or 3) some means of osmotic adjustment with solutes that are compatible with the metabolic machinery of the cell. Although there are very few horticultural examples, several lines of evidence indicate that reductions in salt sensitivity through exclusion or inclusion can be achieved by single gene modifications of the ion transport system. Similarly, single genes resulting in osmotic adjustment with solutes compatible with the metabolic machinery of the cell have resulted in significant increases in salt tolerance. Recent advances in sequencing, use of quantitative trait loci, and marker-assisted selection promise to provide other options for improving salt tolerance.