Sea Water Crops?

Crops irrigated with sea water and grown in hostile environments such as deserts? It’s no longer as strange as it seems.

Scientists from the universities of Purdue, Arizona and Illinois claim they have developed prototype tomato and rice plants able to thrive in salt-rich soils and hibernate in conditions of extreme cold or drought.

The scientists argue their work represents a new approach. Instead of introducing new genes, they study how the plants protect themselves from environmental stresses and then enhance the plant’s natural defense by amplifying the relevant genes.

"Our aim is to get more production on less land, which means that less land is used for agriculture. Any ecologist will tell you that conventional agriculture has a larger negative impact on the world than anything else," said Purdue University scientist Dr. Dr Ray Bressan.

A third of the world's irrigated land is effectively useless because it contains too much salt. When soil is irrigated, especially in hot countries, the water evaporates, leaving salts behind. One solution is to flush the area with more water but when water is at a premium this is not an option.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at May 21, 2004 09:57 AM | TrackBack