MODULE I:

Plant Biotechnological
Applications…..
 COURSE:PLANT GENETIC
TRANSFORMATION

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

DR.AKASH TOMAR ASBAH FATIMA
DEPTT. OF RDT ID:3292

BTECH 3 YR-B
 SALINITY
TOLERANCE
IN PLANTS
 CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Soil salinity,causes and its effects
• Types of soil
• Salt affected soils & relation to waterfall
• Salt stress,tolerance & avoidance
• Sources of tolerance & types of plants
• Salinity stress effect on crop growth &
development
• Tolerance mechanisms
• Genetic variability & development of salt tolerant
plants
 INTRODUCTION
1. When irrigation water contains a high concentration
of solutes and when there is no opportunity to flush out
accumulated salts to a drainage system, salts can quickly
reach levels that are injurious to salt sensitive
species.

2. It is estimated that about one-third of the irrigated

land on Earth is affected by salt.
 SOIL SALINITY
• Soil salinity is an issue of global importance
causing many socio-economic problems.It also
results in losses of(806.4 billion rupees) per year
to agriculture.
• It is caused due to high accumulation of
Calcium,Magnesium as well as Sodium and then
anions such as sulphate,nitrate,carbonate,chloride
and bicarbonate etc.
• Excess salts in the soil,reduces the water potential
of the soil and making the soil solution
unavailable to the plants(physiological drought).
Types of Soils in India
 SALT AFFECTED SOILS
• The saline and alkali(sodic) soils can be
identified in the field by some visual
symptoms.
• The saline soil is covered by white layer
of salts on the surface which disappear
on irrigation/rain and reappear during dry
period.
• The alkali soils are covered with dark
brown or black ash coloured clay crust
due to dissolution of humus in alkali
soils(sodium humate).
 WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SOILS ARE
IRRIGATED?
• During rains or irrigation water will not stagnate for a
longer period on normal or saline soils whereas it will
continue to stagnate on alkali/sodic soils for a longer
period.
• The water on the soil surface of saline soil is very clear
whereas in alkali soils it is dark coloured,soapy,muddy.
• Alkali soils when wetted are dispersed,fluffy and may
develop hard crusts or cracks on drying.
• The physical conditions of saline soils always better
than alkali soils.
SALINE SOILS
ALKALI/SODIC SOILS
 SOURCES OF TOLERANCE
• Salt causes water to be removed out of plants
through exosmosis,especially on young
leaves.This often results in marginal burning and
loss of leaves in plant that are salt tolerant.
• Salt tolerance of plant relates to the resistance
and ability to grow under the condition of high
winds,salt spray,alkaline soils,infertile sandy
soils,and salt in irrigation water.
• The tolerance of a given plant to salt may be
affected if any of those five conditions become
extreme.Salt tolerance ability may be classified
as:
 High Salt Tolerance
• The plant that can withstand most salt conditions
and exposure to ocean or high salt in irrigation
water (upto 3500 ppm salt)
• Salt tolerant plants are highly resistant to salt
drift.
 Medium Salt Tolerance
• The plant that can withstand some salt in the
irrigation water(upto 2500 ppm salt);the yields of
plants are restricted by salinity
• Moderately salt tolerant plants tolerate some salt
spray.
 Low Salt Tolerance
The plant that can withstand salt in irrigation water
less than 2000 ppm.Effect of salt concentrations
in irrigated water on landscape plants have been
given below:
• A reading of 300 ppm will injure orchids.
• A reading of 1500+ ppm will damage many foliage
plants.
• A reading of 1800+ ppm will injure many woody
plants (including rose and citrus).
• A reading of 2200+ ppm make the water unsuitable
for most of the plants.
 SALINITY STRESS
EFFECTS
ON
CROP GROWTH
AND DEVELOPMENT
 Physiological Effects
• Tip and edge burn of leaves,slow and retarded
growth,wilting and eventually death of the plant
may occur.
• Decreased rate of leaf growth after an increase in
soil salinity is primarily due to the osmotic effect
of the salt around the roots.
• Increase in soil salinity causes leaf cells to loose
water.
• Reductions in cell elongation and also cell
division lead to slower leaf appearance and
smaller final size of leaves.
 Seed Germination
Seed germination in saline condition is affected by
three ways.
1.Increased osmotic pressure of the soil solution
which restricts the absorption and entry of water
into the seeds.
2.Certain salt constituents are toxic to embryo and
seedlings.Anions like
carbonate,nitrate,chloride,sulphate are more
harmful to seed germination.
3.Salt stress hampers the metabolism of stored
materials and delays seed germination.
 Vegetative Growth
• During vegetative stage,salt induced water stress
causes closure of stomata leads to reduction in CO2
assimilation and transpiration.

• Reduced turgor potential effects the leaf expansion.

• Because of reduction in leaf area, light interception

is reduced ,photosynthetic rate is affected which
coupled with spurt in respiration ,resulting into
reduced biomass accumulation.
 Photosynthesis
• Accumulation of high concentration of Na+ and Cl-
in chloroplast ,photosynthesis is inhibited.
• Since photosynthetic electron transport appears
relatively insensitive to salts, either carbon
metabolism or photophosphorylation may be
affected.
• Photosynthetic enzyme or the enzymes responsible
for the carbon assmilation are very sensitive to the
presence of NaCl.
• Salinity decreases chlorophyll content,total sugar
starch and potassium in seedling stage.
 Nitrogen Metabolism
• The key enzyme ,nitrate reductase is very
sensitive to NaCl.

• One of the amino acids, glycinebetaine shows

increased trend with increase in salinity in
perennial halophytes and Atriplex sps.

• Proline is an alpha amino acid ,accumulates in

large amounts as compared to all other amino
acids in salt stressed plants.
Reproductive growth and yield
• Under salt stress condition, the onset of flowering
is delayed due to the limitations of source size.
• The quantum of reproductive structure such as
number of flowers/panicle is very much reduced.
• This disturbance in the normal metabolism affects
the mobility of metabolites.
• Due to imbalance of nutrients under salt
stress,hormone synthesis is hampered leads to
reduction in quantity as well as quality of crop
reduce.
 MECHANISM
of
SALINITY TOLERANCE
 Tolerance Mechanism
• Salt tolerance denotes the ability of plant to
prevent ,reduce or overcome the possible injurious
effects caused directly or indirectly by excessive
presence of soluble salts in the solid liquid phase or
growth medium.
• The tolerance to salinity induces ion toxicity or
toxic effects of salinity or a combination of both.
• The possible mechanisms of salinity tolerance are
shown further:
 Cell Membrane Stability
• Cell membrane stability is an indicator of degree
of salt damage.
• The plant cell wall is a highly organized
composite of many different
polysaccharides,proteins and aromatic substances.
• The percentage of cell membrane electrolyte
leakage increases with increasing salt
concentrations.
 Osmotic Adjustment
• Salt tolerance of plant is characterized by its
capacity to endure the effects of excess salts in
the medium for root growth i.e,plant can
withstand a precise amount of salt without
adverse effects.
• Protection from osmotic stress injury is
accomplished by the accumulation of organic
osmolytes.
• Tolerant plants accumulate osmoprotectants and
osmolytes .
 OSMOLYTES
Osmolytes are molecules with low molecular
masses and they could be quaternary
amines,amino acids, or sugar alcohol.
Enhanced accumulation of these molecules is
known to increase osmotic potential of the
cell thereby, increasing the driving force for
the entry of water inside the cells.
Different organic osmolytes are
Glycinebetaine,Manitol,Proline,other amino
acids and osmoprotectants.
GENETIC VARIABILITY
OF
SALINITY TOLERANCE
• Differences in salt tolerance exist among different
genera and species as well as within the same
species.
• Tolerance ability of crop plants varies greatly in
their ability to grow and yield under saline
conditions.
• Plant growth is affected by salinity level of the
soil,which is a function of the soils and initial salt
content as well as salinity of water.
• Some crops are very sensitive to salinity while
others are very tolerant.
• Genetic variability of some crops are discussed :
 RICE
(Oryza sativa)
 DEVELOPMENT
OF
SALT TOLERANT
VARIETIES…..
Conventional Breeding for Salt Tolerance
Sustainable food production puts a high demand on
breeding more salt tolerant crops.The generalized
steps for conventional breeding approaches for
salt tolerant are:
1.Screening germplasm collections for donors of
salt tolerance.
2.Crossing a donor with an elite line and advancing
the F1 hybrid to about F7\8 generation while
selecting the elite characters.
3.Selecting for tolerance starting about F4
generation.
 BIOTECHNOLOGY IN BREEDING FOR SALT TOLERANCE

SOMACLONAL VARIATION
Production of salt tolerant plants through in vitro
technology is one of the ways to utilizethe waste
saline lands.
Selection of favourable mutant cells and somaclonal
variants from callus culture is supplementary tools
to breeding for production of stress resistant plants.
In vitro technology offers a tool for determining the
tolerance and also in screening and developing salt
tolerant genotypes.