PGR News from the Pacific

Posted 6:53 PM by Tevita

Salt tolerant plants a step closer

From :Science Alert

Monday, 02 March 2009
University of Tasmania

Salinity costs the farming industry billions
of dollars.

Chief investigator Associate Professor Sergey Shabala said salination causes multi-billion dollar losses to the crop farming industry.

Up to seven per cent of the total land surface is saline and about one-third of the world’s irrigated land suffers from secondary-induced salination, he said.

Previously plant breeding for salt tolerance has achieved only a limited success, mainly due to the physiological and genetic complexity of salinity trait.

“Traditionally, plant breeding for salt tolerance followed two main avenues”, Assoc Prof Sergey Shabala said.

“One was to make sure that plants don’t take up sodium, and another one – to synthesise some chemicals to help them to withstand the water stress imposed by salinity. Unfortunately, neither of them was efficient enough”.

Now Assoc Prof Shabala and his team at the School of Agricultural Science believe they are getting close to solving this problem.

In a project funded by the Australian Research Council and Grain Research and Development Corporation, the scientists have explored some other mechanisms contributing to salinity tolerance in plants.

One mechanism, related to plant’s ability to keep a constant level of potassium within its tissues, seems to be crucial to make plants salt tolerant.

“It appears that we have found a ‘missing link’ in this puzzle”, Assoc Prof Shabala said.

“As far as plants are capable to keep potassium high, they are happy. And all other mechanisms discovered so far appear to be complimentary to this one”.

The National Land and Water Resources Audit estimates that somewhere between 10 and 25 per cent of currently arable land could be out of production by 2020. So creating salt tolerant varieties is critical for both reclaiming already salinised land and for minimising the overall cost of dryland salinity in Australia which may exceed $1 billion by 2100.

Assoc Prof Shabala and his team believe that targeting potassium in plant breeding for salt tolerance opens new and exciting prospects to overcome salinity problem and create tolerant varieties.

“Given the large amount of contributing components, it’s a painfully slow process,” he said.

“But the knowledge is in place, so it’s simply a matter of time and appropriate techniques to get it all working in the field.”



	A blog maintained by Tevita Kete, PGR Officer Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji Islands
This weblog documents the activities of Pacific Agricultural Genetic Resources Network (PAPGREN), along with other information on plant genetic resources (PGR) in the Pacific. The myriad varieties found within cultivated plants are fundamental to the present and future productivity of agriculture. PAPGREN, which is coordinated by the Land Resources Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), helps Pacific countries and territories to conserve their crop genetic diversity sustainably, with technical assistance from the Bioversity International (BI) and support from NZAID and ACIAR. SPC also hosts the Centre of Pacific Crops and Trees (CEPaCT). The CEPaCT maintains regional in vitro collections of crops important to the Pacific and carries out research on tissue culture technology. The CEPaCT Adviser is Dr Mary Taylor (MaryT@spc.int), the CEPaCT Curator is Ms Valerie Tuia (ValerieT@spc.int). 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DIVA-GIS	Monday, March 02, 2009 Posted 6:53 PM by Tevita Salt tolerant plants a step closer From :Science Alert Monday, 02 March 2009 University of Tasmania Salinity costs the farming industry billions of dollars. Chief investigator Associate Professor Sergey Shabala said salination causes multi-billion dollar losses to the crop farming industry. Up to seven per cent of the total land surface is saline and about one-third of the world’s irrigated land suffers from secondary-induced salination, he said. Previously plant breeding for salt tolerance has achieved only a limited success, mainly due to the physiological and genetic complexity of salinity trait. “Traditionally, plant breeding for salt tolerance followed two main avenues”, Assoc Prof Sergey Shabala said. “One was to make sure that plants don’t take up sodium, and another one – to synthesise some chemicals to help them to withstand the water stress imposed by salinity. Unfortunately, neither of them was efficient enough”. Now Assoc Prof Shabala and his team at the School of Agricultural Science believe they are getting close to solving this problem. In a project funded by the Australian Research Council and Grain Research and Development Corporation, the scientists have explored some other mechanisms contributing to salinity tolerance in plants. One mechanism, related to plant’s ability to keep a constant level of potassium within its tissues, seems to be crucial to make plants salt tolerant. “It appears that we have found a ‘missing link’ in this puzzle”, Assoc Prof Shabala said. “As far as plants are capable to keep potassium high, they are happy. And all other mechanisms discovered so far appear to be complimentary to this one”. The National Land and Water Resources Audit estimates that somewhere between 10 and 25 per cent of currently arable land could be out of production by 2020. So creating salt tolerant varieties is critical for both reclaiming already salinised land and for minimising the overall cost of dryland salinity in Australia which may exceed $1 billion by 2100. Assoc Prof Shabala and his team believe that targeting potassium in plant breeding for salt tolerance opens new and exciting prospects to overcome salinity problem and create tolerant varieties. “Given the large amount of contributing components, it’s a painfully slow process,” he said. “But the knowledge is in place, so it’s simply a matter of time and appropriate techniques to get it all working in the field.” * Comments: Post a Comment	Archive October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 January 2010 RSS Feed Alternative feed Contact Tevita Something new: Agrobiodiversity Weblog: For discussions of conservation and sustainable use of the genetic resources of crops, livestock and their wild relatives. 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