By Experimental Biology
A new study has shown that salt-tolerant bacteria can be used to enhance salt tolerance in various types of plants. The new approach could increase crop yield in areas dealing with increasing soil salinity.
Each year, about 2 million to 3 million hectares of irrigated farmland go out of production worldwide due to salinity problems, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. Increased soil salinity not only reduces water uptake for crops but can often create a nutrient imbalance that decreases plant growth and yield.
Although salt levels in soil can increase naturally over time, especially in arid areas, farming practices also contribute. Irrigation water, especially recycled wastewater, contains salts that concentrate in the soil. Fertilizers also add salts to the soil.
"Agricultural soil loss continues to rise, posing a very real threat to many important crops," said research team leader Brent Nielsen, Ph.D., professor at Brigham Young University. "Our method for enhancing the salt tolerance of plants could be scaled up to allow farmers to use more of their land and improve yield. This would create a more stable income for farmers and a more reliable food supply for consumers."
Ashley Miller, a graduate student working in Nielsen's lab, was scheduled to present this research at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology annual meeting in San Diego this month. Though the meeting, to be held in conjunction with the 2020 Experimental Biology conference, was canceled in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the research team's abstract was published in this month's issue of The FASEB Journal.
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