Biotechnological Approaches for Developing Salt Tolerant Field Crops

Abstract

Plant cell cultures have been widely used to screen against salt, salt mixtures, sea water and proline analogues, to develop salt tolerant genotypes in crop species. In some cases, selected trait expressed in regenerated plants has also been shown to be inherited through the sexual cycle. Besides, salt-tolerance character available in the wild germ plasm could be introgressed into the economic target species through improved wide hybridization techniques (e.g. embryo rescue, protoplast fusion, etc.). The third approach makes use of the recombinant DNA technology for identification, cloning, transfer and expression of the salt-tolerance genes in the target species. Basic research on salt-tolerance mechanisms at molecular level, stress related proteins and DNA sequences, plant morphogenesis, somatic cell hybridization, developmental regulation and selection strategies, however, need to be intensified to accelerate breeding for this complex characteristic.