BREEDING TOLERANT CULTIVARS FOR HIGH SALINITY STRESS CONDITONS

C. Mahadevaiah1, C. Appunu1, V. Sreenivasa1, T. Manjunatha1, G.S. Suresha2

1

Division of Crop Improvement, 2Division of Crop Production, Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore

Salinity is a major environmental stress and is a substantial constraint to crop production. Salinity is a significant factor limiting agricultural productivity and affecting about 9 x 108 hectares worldwide. Almost all the crops are affected by soil salinization. Poor quality of water for irrigation and current unsustainable irrigation practices has significantly resulted in salinization and other forms of soil damage. About one third of all irrigated land is affected by salt due to secondary salinization. Increased salinization of arable land is expected to have devastating global effects, resulting in 30% land loss within next 25 years and up to 50% by the middle of 21st century. The problem of secondary salinization is also becoming more serious as it represents loss of highly productive lands. High salinity causes both hyperionic and hyperosmotic stress and can lead to plant demise. Sea water contains approximately 3% of NaCl and in terms of molarity of different ions, Na+ is about 460 mM, Mg2+ is 50 mM and Cl- around 540 mM along with smaller quantities of other ions. Salinity in a given land area depends upon various factors like amount of evaporation (leading to increase in salt concentration), or the amount of precipitation (leading to decrease in salt concentration). Weathering of rocks also affects salt concentration. Inland deserts are marked by high salinity as the rate of evaporation far exceeds the rate of precipitation. Agricultural lands that have been heavily irrigated are highly saline. As drier areas in particular need intense irrigation, there is extensive water loss through a combination of both evaporation as well as transpiration. This process is known as evapotranspiration and as a result, the salt delivered along with the irrigation water gets concentrated, year-by-year in the soil. This leads to huge losses in

terms of arable land and productivity as most of the economically important crop species are very sensitive to soil salinity. These salt sensitive plants, also known as glycophytes include rice (Oryza sativa), maize (Zea mays), soybean (Glycine max) and beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). High salt concentration (Na+) in particular which deposit in the soil can alter the basic texture of the soil resulting in decreased soil porosity and consequently reduced soil aeration and water conductance. Thus developing plant varieties with potential to tolerate high saline conditions might help to maintain agricultural production.