2-Plants: Non-GE salt-resistant wheat tested successfully in Australia

[coordination@genet-info.org]

                                  PART I
-------------------------------- GENET-news -------------------------------

TITLE:  Salt-tolerant wheats yield double
SOURCE: Countryman, Australia, by Lara Ladyman
        http://countryman.thewest.com.au/20040729/cm-home-sto128808.html
DATE:   29 Jul 2004 

------------------- archive: http://www.genet-info.org/ -------------------


Salt-tolerant wheats yield double

GENETICALLY modified salt-tolerant Westonia wheat in glasshouse trials has 
produced double the number of seeds of its non-GM counterpart growing in 
saline water a third as salty as seawater. Harvested in May this year, the 
results provide the first quantitative proof for a WA wheat breeding 
company of how its salt tolerant gene is working.

[GENET/HM: with regard to the legal definitions of GE this wheat is not GE 
but a cross between common sea barley grass and wheat; according to a 
Cooperative Research Centre publication, hybrid embryos had been cultured 
on nutrient medium, subsequently applying chromosome doubling and haploid 
techniques. In the end a wheat hybrid with an additional barley chromosome 
was produced).

                                  PART II
-------------------------------- GENET-news -------------------------------

TITLE:  Waterlogging key for saline wheat
SOURCE: Countryman, Australia
        http://countryman.thewest.com.au/20040729/cm-home-sto128809.html
DATE:   29 Jul 2004 

------------------- archive: http://www.genet-info.org/ -------------------


Waterlogging key for saline wheat

WORLD'S first research underway in WA is attempting to make wheat more 
waterlogging and salt tolerant. The Cooperative Research Centre for Plant-
Based Management of Dryland Salinity project and the GRDC, started in 
2001, has successfully crossed sea barley grass with wheat as part of the 
first steps down a long road to breed a more salt-tolerant wheat.


                                  PART III
-------------------------------- GENET-news -------------------------------

TITLE:  Developing salt-tolerant crops
        Development of a salt-tolerant cereal using 'wide crosses' of
        wheat with 'wild' Hordeum species
SOURCE: Cooperative Research Centre for Plant-Based Management of Dryland
        Australia
        http://www1.crcsalinity.com/pages/project.aspx?projectid=25
DATE:   29 Jul 2004 

------------------- archive: http://www.genet-info.org/ -------------------


Developing salt-tolerant crops
Development of a salt-tolerant cereal using 'wide crosses' of wheat 
with 'wild' Hordeum species

One of the objectives of the CRC is to identify and develop new crops that 
contribute to improved productivity and profitability of saline lands.

The project aims to develop a salt- and waterlogged-tolerant cereal, and 
forms part of the CRC's research into scientifically sound and practical 
plant-based approaches to managing salinity in wheat belt areas.

Our aim is to develop cereals capable of extending cropping onto soils 
with salinity levels too high for existing cultivars. A number of Hordeum 
species inhabit salt marshes and since several Hordeum x wheat hybrids 
have been reported, it might be possible to cross these salt tolerant 
species with wheat. Hordeum marinum (common sea barley grass) is a species 
of particular promise.

This research aims to provide productive options for managing the 
increasingly large areas that have and will become salty over the next ten 
years.



The research challenge

Sea barley grass (Hordeum marinum) has very high salinity tolerance, and 
is capable of growing at levels approaching sea water. It also posssesses 
mechanisms for root aeration which contribute to waterlogging tolerance. 
The challenge for researchers is to create a successful hybrid with wheat 
that maintains these key traits.

Specifically this project will:
1. Identify sources of salt- and waterlogging-tolerance in 'wild' Hordeum 
germplasm.
2. Determine which of the salt- and waterlogging-tolerant species can be 
crossed with wheat, using cytogenetic techniques
3. Produce cytogenetic stocks (pre-breeding materials) from successful 
Hordeum x wheat crosses, and identify lines with a high degree of salt- 
and waterlogging- tolerance.

How is the research being done?

The research team is screening 'wild' Hordeum germplasm to find which 
species can donate genes for salt- and waterlogging-tolerance, and which 
can be hybridised with wheat. The outcomes are uncertain in this cutting-
edge research, because we know little about the 'wild' Hordeum species.

We have:
- produced a Hordeum marinum - wheat amphiploid, demonstrating the 
feasibility of using Hordeum marinum in the development of cytogenetical 
stocks to transfer traits associated with salt- and waterlogging-tolerance 
into bread wheat.
- screened thirty-six Hordeum accessions for waterlogging tolerance in 
collaboration with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences which 
holds the most comprehensive collection of 'wild' Hordeum germplasm in the 
world
- screened these same accessions for salinity tolerance in Sweden
- imported accessions of interest to the project and are presently growing 
these in a quarantine glasshouse at the University of Adelaide
- collected a diverse range of Hordeum marinum accessions from across the 
WA wheat belt

Researchers are now:
- conducting the cytogenetic work to hybridise selected 'wild' Hordeum 
species with wheat
- screening these cytogenetic lines for salt- and waterlogging-tolerance 
as the lines become available.

Benefits from this research

Salinisation is a threat for up to one-third of agricultural land in 
Australia with large areas already salt-affected. Currently the productive 
use of saline land is limited to fodder for livestock, with little 
opportunity for cropping.

Our objective is to develop a cereal with substaintially more salt 
tolerance than current cultivars of barley or wheat, so extending the 
range of soils on which cereals can be grown profitability. Not only will 
this offcer farmers the benefit of more profitable options for salty land, 
it will also give them more flexibility - particularly for those farmers 
who do not use livestock in their enterprise.

Salty land is often prone to waterlogged, so waterlogging tolerance is 
also needed. Undomesticed or 'wild' species within the Triticeae (same 
tribe as wheat and barley) are potential sources of salt- and waterlogging-
tolerance.

Even with these advances, cropping is unlikely to be viable on severely 
salt-affected land, where fodders such as saltbush and salt tolerant 
grasses will remain the best option.

Nor will salt-tolerant cereals 'solve' the problem of salinity. They might 
help use manage some of its symptoms, but will do little to address the 
cause of rising water tables, for that we need perennials with high water-
use.


                                  PART IV
-------------------------------- GENET-news -------------------------------

TITLE:  DEVELOPING SALT TOLERANT WHEAT
SOURCE: Cooperative Research Centre for Plant-Based Management of Dryland
        Australia
        http://www1.crcsalinity.com/crc_ar2003/pages/highlights/tolerant_
        wheat.html
DATE:   2003

------------------- archive: http://www.genet-info.org/ -------------------


DEVELOPING SALT TOLERANT WHEAT

Wheat plays an important role in our diets and our export markets, but the 
wheat belt of southern Australia contain some of our most threatened 
lands. Rising water tables mean that large areas with the highest yield 
potential have and continue to become saline and prone to waterlogging. To 
maintain crop-based systems substantial improvements in tolerance to these 
combined stresses, well above the levels in current cultivars of barley 
and wheat, are required.

This is a major challenge for researchers, but promising results in this 
part of the landscape could help secure farmer support for more 'radical' 
new farming systems in other areas.

The project 'Development of a salt-tolerant cereal using 'wide crosses' of 
wheat with 'wild' Hordeum species' aims to develop a salt and waterlogging 
tolerant cereal. This ambitious project is lead by Tim Colmer from the 
University of Western Australia. It uses 'conventional' breeding 
approaches that do not rely on genetic modification.

Undomesticated or 'wild' species within the Triticeae (same tribe as wheat 
and barley) are a potential source of salt and waterlogging-tolerance, 
particularly the 'wild' Hordeum species that inhabit salt marshes. Sea 
barley grass (Hordeum marinum) has very high salinity tolerance, and is 
capable of growing at levels approaching sea water. It also possesses 
mechanisms for root aeration which contribute to waterlogging tolerance. 
The challenge for researchers is to create a successful hybrid that 
maintains these key traits.

The most comprehensive collection of 'wild' Hordeum germplasm is held by 
the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Collaborative research to 
screen for the desired traits and identify key Hordeum species has avoided 
delays caused by importing a large number of species through Australian 
quarantine processes.

Thirty six Hordeum species (and sub-species) have been screened for 
waterlogging tolerance and root aeration traits in Sweden (by Alaina 
Garthwaite, a PhD student at UWA with a GRDC-scholarship linked to this 
project). The results from these experiments were published in a recent 
issue of the peer-reviewed journal 'Functional Plant Biology'. Digby Short 
(Research officer appointed to the project) travelled to Sweden in mid-
August 2002 and has been conducting experiments to screen these same 
species (and sub-species) for salinity tolerance. The initiative to 
conduct these initial screens in collaboration with Professor von Bothmer 
in Sweden has enabled quick access to, and preliminary assessment of, a 
broad set of representative species in the Swedish Hordeum collection. 
Subsequently, 18 accessions of nine species have been imported and grown 
(or are presently growing) in a quarantine glasshouse at the Waite Campus, 
University of Adelaide.

The results of initial physiological screenings identified H. marinum as 
a 'best bet' species, and initial cytogenetical work (by Dr. Rafiq Islam 
at Adelaide University) was successful in hybridizing it with bread wheat 
(Triticum aestivum). The hybrids were then grown to maturity and treated 
with colchicine - a substance which doubles the number of chromosomes to 
restore chromosome pairs. The amphiloid cross was then 'back-crossed' with 
bread wheat to produce a second generation cross. These plants will then 
be screened to find individuals with the extra H. marinum chromosome for 
further screening with the ultimate aim of identifying salt and 
waterlogging tolerant plants with minimum amounts of chromosome material 
from H. marinum in the wheat genetic background.

Early results are promising and the research is progressing to plan. The 
production of a H. marinum-wheat cross shows that our approach is 
feasible. The research is now only in its second year, and much work 
remains.

Ultimately, salt-tolerant wheat is not going to 'solve' the problem of 
salinity. While it helps us to manage some of the symptoms, it will do 
little to address the cause of rising water tables - for that we need 
perennials with high water use. However, it will extend the range of soils 
on which wheat can be grown. On severely salinised land cropping is 
unlikely to be viable even with salt tolerant wheat, where fodders (such 
as saltbush) remain the most appropriate option.

 This research is supported by the Grains Research & Development 
Corporation (GRDC).




-- 
GENET
European NGO Network on Genetic Engineering

Hartmut MEYER (Mr)
Kleine Wiese 6
D - 38116 Braunschweig
Germany

P: +49-531-5168746
F: +49-531-5168747
M: +49-162-1054755
E: coordination(at)genet-info.org
W: <http://www.genet-info.org>

-----------------------------
   GENET-news mailing list   
-----------------------------