Breeding Salinity Tolerant Grape rootstocks

Understanding the mechanism of salinity tolerance in any crop plant is a prerequisite to crop development with regards to this trait. However, analogous to agronomic breeding for yield, salt tolerance breeding in grapevines is hampered by the complex nature of the plant response to a soil solution containing a high concentration of salt (reviewed in M. Ashraf and P.J.C. Harris, eds., 2005, Abiotic Stresses, Haworth Press). Salt tolerance is generally regarded as a multigenic trait (T.J. Flowers, 2004, Journal of Experimental Botany 55:307-319) and may be exhibited in at least five distinct control points within a plant (R. Munns et al., 2002, Plant and Soil 247: 93-105). But the importance of understanding and improving salinity tolerance in crop plants overshadows the difficulties involved; in California, an estimated 4.5 million acres of agricultural land contains saline soil, including major grape-growing regions.