Summary
The genetic approach to the problems posed by salt-affected soils and water, i.e., breeding crops resistant to salinity stress, is traced to two principal origins: the European ecological interest in halophytes, and the exigencies of growing crops in the arid and semi-arid lands of the American West. The point is made that breeding for resistance to salinity stress cannot be divorced from breeding for various other desirable traits of mineral plant nutrition and metabolism. A survey is conducted of the existing body of information on breeding for desiderata of mineral nutrition in general and salt tolerance in particular. The prospects of breeding crops for salt tolerance are discussed, with emphasis on a) its relation to breeding for resistance to other mineral stresses; b) field trials; c) collaboration between plant physiologists and geneticist-breeders; and d) extensive exploration of germplasm.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bradshaw A D 1984 Adaptation of plants to soils containing heavy metals - a test for conceit. In Origins and Development of Adaptation. Ciba Foundation Symposium 102, pp 4–19. Pitman, London.
Brewer W H 1930 Up and Down California in 1860–1864. Yale University Press, New Haven. Available in a third edition. Ed. F P Farquhar. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1966.
Brown J C 1979 Genetic improvement and nutrient uptake in plants. BioSci. 29, 289–292.
Clark R B 1982 Plant response to mineral element toxicity and deficiency. In Breeding Plants for Less Favorable Environments. Eds. M N Christiansen and C F Lewis, pp 71–142. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Clark R B and Brown J C 1980 Role of the plant in mineral nutrition as related to breeding and genetics. In Moving up the Yield Curve: Advances and Obstacles. Eds. L S Murphy, E C Doll and L F Welch, pp 45–70. ASA Special Publication Number 39, American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin.
Devine T E 1982 Genetic fitting of crops to problem soils. In Breeding Plants for Less Favorable Environments. Eds. M N Christiansen and C F Lewis, pp 143–173. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Downton W J S 1984 Salt tolerance of food crops: prospectives for improvements. CRC Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 1, 183–201. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.
Duvick D N, Kleese R A and Frey N M 1981 Breeding for tolerance of nutrient imbalances and constraints to growth in acid, alkaline and saline soils. J. Plant Nutr. 4, 111–129.
Epstein E 1960 Spaces, barriers, and ion carriers: ion absorption by plants. Am. J. Bot. 47, 393–399.
Epstein E 1963 Selective ion transport in plants and its genetic control. Desalination Research Conference Proceedings. NAS-NRC Publication 942, 284–298.
Epstein E 1972 Physiological genetics of plant nutrition. In Mineral Nutrition of Plants: Principles and Perspectives, pp 325–344. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Epstein E 1983 Crops tolerant of salinity and other mineral stresses. In Better Crops for Food. Ciba Foundation Symposium 97, 61–82. Pitman, London.
Epstein E and Hagen C E 1952 A kinetic study of the absorption of alkali cations by barley roots. Plant Physiol. 27, 457–474.
Epstein E and Jefferies R L 1964 The genetic basis of selective ion transport in plants. Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. 15, 169–184.
Epstein E and Lauchli A 1983 Mineral deficiencies and excesses. In Challenging Problems in Plant Health. Eds. T Kommedahl and P H Williams, pp 196–205. American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Epstein E, Norlyn J D, Rush D W, Kingsbury R W, Kelley D B, Cunningham G A and Wrona A F 1980 Saline culture of crops: a genetic approach. Science 210, 399–404.
Gerloff G C 1963 Comparative mineral nutrition of plants. Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. 14, 107–124.
Gerloff G C and Gabelman W H 1983 Genetic basis of inorganic plant nutrition. In Encylopedia of Plant Physiolbgy, New Series, Vol. 15. Inorganic Plant Nutrition. Eds. A Lauchli and R L Bieleski. pp 453–480. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Goodin J R and Northington D K, Eds 1979 Arid Land Plant Resources. International Center for Arid and Semi-Arid Land Studies, Texas Tech University, Lubbock.
Gupta V S 1978 Genetic and breeding aspects of salt tolerance in plants. Curr. Agric. 2, 1–6.
Hilgard E W 1906 Soils. Macmillan, New York.
Hollaender A, Aller J C, Epstein E, San Pietro A and Zaborsky O R, Eds 1979 The Biosaline Concept: An Approach to the Utilization of Underexploited Resources. Plenum Press, New York.
Jenny H 1961 E W Hilgard and the Birth of Modern Soil Science. Collana della Rivista ‘Agrochimica’ 3. Pisa.
Jung G A, Ed 1978 Crop Tolerance to Suboptimal Land Conditions. ASA Special Publication Number 32, American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin.
Klimashevsky E L, Ed 1974 Variety and Nutrition. Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Siberian Branch. Sib. Inst. Plant Physiol. andBiochem. Irkutsk, Siberia, USSR. ( In Russian )
Klimashevsky E L 1981 Physiological Genetics of Plant Mineral Nutrition. Kolos Publishing House, Moscow. (In Russian)
Kruckeberg A R 1959 Ecological and genetic aspects of metallic ion uptake by plants and their possible relation to wood preservation. In Marine Boring and Fouling Organisms. Ed. D L Ray. pp 526–536. University of Washington Press, Seattle.
Läuchli A 1976 Genotypic variation in transport. In Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, New Series, Vol. 2, Part B. Transport in Plants II B. Eds. U Lüttge and M G Pitman, pp 372–393. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Lyon C B 1941 Responses of two species of tomatoes and the F1 generation to sodium sulphate in the nutrient medium. Bot. Gaz. 103, 107–122.
Mahon J D 1983 Limitations to the use of physiological variability in plant breeding. Can. J. Plant Sci. 63, 11–21.
Manassah J T and Briskey E J, Eds 1981 Advances in Food Producing Systems for Arid and Semiarid Lands. Academic Press, New York.
Millikan C R 1961 Plant varieties and species in relation to the occurrence of deficiencies and excesses of certain nutrient elements. J. Aust. Inst. Agric. Sci. 27, 220–233.
Myers W M 1960 Genetic control of physiological processes: consideration of differential ion uptake by plants. In A Symposium on Radioisotopes in the Biosphere. Eds. R S Caldecott and L A Snyder, pp 201–226. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Paylore P 1982 Arid lands information transfer: who knows what? Annals Arid Zone 21, 65–72.
Qureshi R H, Muhammed S and Aslam M, Eds 1981 Proceedings of the Workshop/Seminar on Membrane Biophysics and Development of Salt Tolerance in Plants. University of Agriculture Press, Faisalabad.
Rains D W, Ed 1981 A Conference on Biosalinity: the Problem of Salinity in Agriculture. University of California, Davis.
Rains D W, Valentine R C and Hollaender A, Eds 1980 Genetic Engineering of Osmoregulation: Impact on Plant Productivity for Food, Chemicals, and Energy. Plenum Press, New York.
Richards R A 1983 Should selection for yield in saline regions be made on saline or non-saline soils? Euphytica 32, 431–438.
San Pietro A, Ed 1982 Biosaline Research: A Look to the Future. Plenum Press, New York.
Sarić M R 1981 Genetic specificity in relation to plant mineral nutrition. J. Plant Nutr. 3, 743–766.
Sarić M R, Ed 1982 Genetic Specificity of Mineral Nutrition of Plants. Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Beograd.
Sarić M R and Loughman B C, Eds. 1983 Genetic Aspects of Plant Nutrition. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague.
Schimper A F W 1898 Pflanzengeographie auf Physiologischer Grundlage. Verlag Gustav Fischer, Jena.
Shannon M C 1979 In quest of rapid screening techniques for plant salt tolerance. Hort Sci. 14, 587–589.
Sprague G F, Alexander D R and Dudley J W 1980 Plant breeding and genetic engineering: a perspective. BioSci. 30, 17–21.
Staples R C and Toenniessen G H, Eds 1984 Salinity Tolerance in Plants: Strategies for Crop Improvement. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Tansley A G 1911 Types of British Vegetation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Vose P B 1963 Varietal differences in plant nutrition. Herb. Abstracts 33, 1–13.
Vose P B 1984 Effects of genetic factors on nutritional requirements of plants. In Crop Breeding: A Contemporary Basis. Eds, P B Vose and S G Blixt. pp 67–114. Pergamon Press, Oxford.
Wegrzyn V A, Hill R R Jr and Baker D E 1980 Soil fertility - crop genotype associations and interactions. J. Plant Nutr. 2, 607–627.
Woolhouse H W 1981 Crop physiology in relation to agricultural production: the genetic link. In Physiological Processes Limiting Plant Productivity. Ed. C B Johnson, pp 1–21. Butterworths, London.
Wright M J, Ed 1977 Plant Adaptation to Mineral Stress in Problem Soils. A Special Publication of Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Epstein, E. (1985). Salt-tolerant crops: origins, development, and prospects of the concept. In: Pasternak, D., San Pietro, A. (eds) Biosalinity in Action: Bioproduction with Saline Water. Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences, vol 17. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5111-2_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5111-2_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8759-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-5111-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive