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To feed the ever increasing world population, more crops production per hectare has become a necessity. Soil salinity is one of the important factors causing land degradation leading to low soil aeration and water conductance. It adversely impacts plant growth and development. Adaption through modern molecular tools is an important strategy for alternative use for degraded land. To achieve this aim, we have cloned a novel salt responsive gene Salicornia brachiata RNA Poly III Complex 5 Like subunit (SbRPC5L) from an extreme halophyte and transformed it into tobacco for abiotic stress tolerance. The gene is intronless, 1,202 bp long, membrane‐localized, encoding a protein of 196 amino acids and shows upregulation under salt and osmotic stress. Tobacco plants harboring SbRPC5L perform better under stress and have more water content, membrane stability, and stress tolerance indices as compared with control plants. The transgenics exhibited lower electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde, reactive oxygen species (ROS), H2O2, and Na+, more negative value of osmotic potential, higher K+ content, and K+/Na+ ratio. Some of the important antioxidant genes, namely, NtAPX, NtPOX, and NtSOD, get upregulated in transgenic lines. The results suggest that this novel gene has a potential to be used as a promising alternative to impart abiotic stress tolerance for climate resilient agriculture in degraded costal saline areas.

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Among different organic solutes, glycine betaine (GB) is an important compatible solute under stress condition. It performs different functions, and under stressed environment, its role becomes pivotal as an osmoÀ/stress-protectant. Choline and glycine are precursor molecules in GB biosynthetic pathway. Choline monooxygenase (CMO) and betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH) function as biosynthetic enzymes. Under stress conditions, the role of increased GB contents has been advocated in stress tolerance through their involvement in different stress-responsive pathways. In an extreme halophyte Salicornia species, GB contents and BADH mRNA transcript increased under salinity stress. The role of exogenously supplied GB has also been shown in salt tolerance in plants. This offered opportunity for genetic engineering with genes involved in GB

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Tissue culture study was performed to standardize the technique and select suitable plant growth regulators and their concentrations for efficient callus induction from the nodal explants of Asparagus racemosus willd, an important medicinal herb. Different concentrations of NAA, 2,4-D, BAP and KN were supplemented in MS basal medium in which the nodal explants were inoculated. It was observed that MS + 0.2 mg/l NAA was the best culture condition in which maximum percentage of response 90.36 was obtained. This was followed by the culture conditions that were MS+ 2.0 mg/l where the percentage response was 88.68%. Similarly, next higher percentage 88.62 was observed in MS+1.0 mg/l BAP + 1.0 mg/l NAA. It was further observed that growth rate was excellent where the percentage response was higher. Second it was noted that the calli had both compact and friable texture and their colour varied from green yellow to brown even where the growth was excellent. It was further noted that NAA or BAP had no response for callusing when used alone. However, KN at higher concentration 2.0 mg/l gave the highest percentage of response for callusing. NAA + BAP and NAA + KN at the similar concentrations gave different result. In the MS medium having 1.0 mg/l BAP + 1.0 mg/l NAA the percentage of response was 88.62 while MS + 1.0 mg/l KN + 1.0 mg/l NAA the percentage of response was 62.34 only. Growth rate of the calli also differed in different culture conditions.