Salt Resistant Wheat - A Big Step Forward by Australian Science

The news has been a few more years in development following the discovery of the actual gene in the 1990s, that can convey salt resistance in wheat.
The news was even on AM this morning, with the interview of people involved, following publication of the article in the journal Nature.
[link to AM story - http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3450926.htm ]

This has been a big step forward by the staff at the Waite Institute [ Uni of Adelaide] and Centre for Plant Functional Genomics in Adelaide with the incorporation of the gene from a wheat ancestor into durum wheat and the material moving into the pre production phase of a new commercial variety, with commercial availability likely to be 4-5 years from now.

While durum wheat is a smaller crop area than the more traditional bread wheats, it is also an important one, as prices can be quite a bit higher. Durum wheats conventionally are used for pasta and related products.

Salt tolerance is a very important trait, as both in Australia and elsewhere the areas suitable for cropping, but damaged by salt ingress are increasing, as well as the possibility of being able to use less than ideal water for irrigation, a major issue in many areas of the world.

The interview is a bit superficial I thought, as the real issues are of world wide relevance for wheat production. No doubt work is already under way to extend this to bread wheats. A better overview is here on a science report - http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/03/12/3451266.htm?WT.svl=news5

The other part of the work is that now the gene hs been identified, it may be feasible to also incorporate it into other major crops - with other grains an obvious first target - think rice, maize, as major ones initially. It also comes soon one of the same groups has been associated with improving iron levels in cereals, a similar outstanding achievement.

Farrer, the grand father of wheat breeding in the Australian context, would be pleased with the wheat breeders of 2012.

Salth Tolerant Durum Wheat for Australia

While some research teams have gone all high tech eg Mark Tester and team in Adelaide at the Plant Genomics Centre on the same general problem of salt tolerance in cereals, this CSIRO group has used conventional breeding approaches, with success.

Salt land is a serious problem in many lower rainfall cereal growing areas, and with durum wheat commanding higher values, getting a better yield on these areas is important.

And it does go to show that there is still a lot of life left in conventional breeding approaches to crop development!

Read more here:
http://qcl.farmonline.com.au/news/state/grains-and-cropping/general/salt-tolerant-wheat-breakthrough/1815278.aspx?src=enews

Salt Tolerant GM Wheat - Paddock Trials in 2010

Researchers expect to have genetically modified salt tolerant cereal lines in the paddock for trials next year, in a big boost for the 70pc of Australian farmers affected by salinity.

A project into salt tolerance, conducted jointly by the University of Adelaide and the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) has had some promising results.

"I'm excited by what is happening – the preliminary results are looking good, we are confident we will be able to reduce the amount of salt that gets into the plant, which then limits the yield," project leader Professor Mark Tester said. He said there was huge application within the Australian grains industry for salt tolerant lines, with research out of the University of Adelaide showing that 70pc of the nation's grain belt was in some way affected by excess salinity. "We estimate that salinity could be costing up to $200 million annually, working on yield limitations of 10pc across 70pc of the cropping area."

This is a rapid update on the work reported here a few days ago, which really was a scientific report in a world leading journal. This now is real 'on the ground" progress.

While salt trolerance development is somewhat easier in speices such as rice and barley, and excellent progress is already occurring in these species, getting salt tolerance into wheat will be a major achievement.

Somehow I do not expect that the plants will be torn out of the ground. This type of development using GM technology can make a very big difference into crop yields - not by removing all of the 10% yield gap now existing, but maybe around half of that gap.

That will be a big payoff if true!!

media release here - http://www.adelaide.edu.au/lumen/issues/18921/news18944.html

Can GM Crops Feed the World?

This was the title of a recent documentary on SBS television in Australia. It covered the "adventures" of a young university agriculturally trained farmer, who was farming in a very traditional way in the UK, across several continents to examine for himself the issues around GM technology in modern agriculture.

Definitely worth watching or seeing on a DVD if you are interested.

From GM Roundup Ready soybeans in Argentina to the use or otherwise and its labelling of GM oils in food stuffs, in both Europe and North America to Uganda where GM technology was being used to develop black sigatoka resistant bananas.

GM technology is now quite common in plant genetics, of some use in animal production and likely to be more widely used. For example, GM technology has been used in cotton to reduce pesticide use in growing the crop, very successfully.

He really does not come up with a single answer..........but it does seem that big steps can be taken to enhance food security in many lesser developed areas through insect and disease resistance especially in the vegetatively propagated crops, with bananas a great example.

While not discussed on the tv program, Panama disease of bananas in the Asian region [which can be devastating] is also seen as a very suitable candidate for control via GM developed new banana varieties, and this issue is being researched already.

Maybe there is no single answer to the use of GM technology. But remember, similar heated debate also occurred about 70 - 80 years ago when hybrid corn and sorghum was developed. It was unnatural, the ruination of the world was imminent! But hybridisation of plants is now very much mainstream.

Will GM technology eventually go the same way??? To be well accepted as another tool in developing higher yielding and disease resistant crops and plants of all sorts.........it is even now being used on turfgrass.

Salt Tolerant Cereals Getting Closer

The efforts to develop salt tolerance in the world's major cereal crops has been one of the great needs in modern agriculture. Many areas of the world's farmlands are salt affected, and there are alos many millions of hectares that are naturally unusable because of salt issues. Mark Testor and his now quite large team in Adelaide have been carefully working through some of these processes for a few years now, and are now starting to capitalise on the work with a few positive announcements. Professor Testor is a very well renowned academic, and is impressive to meet or hear speak at conferences. Good luck to them as they push forward with the work. The following is a media release from the University.

And yes...........it uses GM approaches to achieve the results.

An international team of scientists has developed salt-tolerant plants using a new type of genetic modification (GM), bringing salt-tolerant cereal crops a step closer to reality.

The research team - based at the University of Adelaide's Waite Campus - has used a new GM technique to contain salt in parts of the plant where it does less damage.

Salinity affects agriculture worldwide, which means the results of this research could impact on world food production and security.

The work has been led by researchers from the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics and the University of Adelaide's School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, in collaboration with scientists from the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, UK. The results of their work are published today in the top international plant science journal, The Plant Cell. "Salinity affects the growth of plants worldwide, particularly in irrigated land where one third of the world's food is produced. And it is a problem that is only going to get worse, as pressure to use less water increases and quality of water decreases," says the team's leader, Professor Mark Tester, from the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine at the University of Adelaide and the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG).

"Helping plants to withstand this salty onslaught will have a significant impact on world food production."

Professor Tester says his team used the technique to keep salt - as sodium ions (Na+) - out of the leaves of a model plant species. The researchers modified genes specifically around the plant's water conducting pipes (xylem) so that salt is removed from the transpiration stream before it gets to the shoot. "This reduces the amount of toxic Na+ building up in the shoot and so increases the plant's tolerance to salinity," Professor Tester says. "In doing this, we've enhanced a process used naturally by plants to minimise the movement of Na+ to the shoot. We've used genetic modification to amplify the process, helping plants to do what they already do - but to do it much better."

The team is now in the process of transferring this technology to crops such as rice, wheat and barley. "Our results in rice already look very promising," Professor Tester says.