Approaches to breeding for salinity tolerance ‐ a case study on Porteresia coarctata

Abstract

SummaryCereals are the world's major source of food for human nutrition. Among these, rice (Oryza sativa) is the most prominent and represents the staple diet for more than two‐fifths (2.4 billion) of the world's population, making it the most important food crop of the developing world (Anon., 2000a). Rice production in vast stretches of coastal areas is hampered due to high soil salinity. This is because rice is a glycophyte and it does not grow well under saline conditions. In order to increase rice production in these areas there is a need to develop rice varieties suited to saline environments. Research has shown that Porteresia coarctata, a highly salt tolerant wild relative of rice growing in estuarine soils, is an important material for transferring salt tolerant characteristics to rice. It is quite possible that Porteresia may be used as a parent for evolving better and truly salt resistant varieties. The inadequate results and the difficulties associated with conventional breeding techniques necessitate the use of the tools of crop biotechnology in unravelling some of the characteristics of Porteresia that have been highlighted in this report. In view of the limited resources available for increasing salinity tolerance to the breeders to wild rice germplasm, Porteresia is undoubtedly one of the key source species for elevating salinity tolerance in cultivated rice.

Holocene-aged sedimentary records of environmental changes and early agriculture in the lower Yangtze, China

“…Increased frequency and severity of flooding could have disrupted settlement and food production at Guangfulin ca 2400 BP, and frequent flooding by brackish water from around the same time may explain a continued importance of wild rice around Qingpu (and quite possibly around the other sites too). The cultivation of domesticated rice -a glycophyteis hampered by high soil salinity, while some wild varieties of rice seem able to thrive in brackish water (Zeng and Shannon, 2000;Latha et al, 2004).…”

Breeding for abiotic stresses for sustainable agriculture

“…Epstein et al 1979;Qureshi et al 1990), the tolerance of wheat relatives to salinity and other stresses has been known for many years. In rice, wild relatives are an important source of resistance to abiotic stresses (Brar & Khush 1997), although resistance to salinity is less common (Akbar et al 1986;Yeo et al 1990) and only one source is known: it could be transferred from the tetraploid Asian wild rice Porteresia coarctata to O. sativa through DNA-based techniques or bridge crossing (Lath et al 2004).…”

Physico-chemical attributes and correlation among grain quality traits of some exotic aromatic rice lines

“…Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important crop at the global level, as it is the staple food for more than two fifths (2.4 billion) of the world's population (Latha et al, 2004). The total cropped area of Bangladesh is 33422 thousand acres of which 26130 thousand acres are used for rice cultivation and the production of rice is 28931 thousand metric tons (BBS, 2012).…”