Saline land is a resource capable of significant production. Recent advances in research in breeding for salt tolerance in wheat, biotechnology in rice, and selection and rehabilitation of salt-tolerant plants are of economic importance in arid/saline conditions.

This book gives some practical approaches for saline agriculture and afforestation, and describes examples of cultivating salt-tolerant/halophytic plants for commercial interest on salt-affected land or with highly salinized water in Australia, China, Central Asia, Egypt, Pakistan, and Russia. It also explores the...

During the next 30 years, farmers must produce 70% more rice than the 550 millions tons produced today to feed the increasing population. Nitrogen (N) is the nutrient that most frequently limits rice production. At current levels ofN use efficiency, we will require at least double the 10 million tons of N fertilizer that are currently used each year for rice production. Global agriculture now relies heavily on N fertilizers derived from petroleum, which, in turn, is vulnerable to political and economic fluctuations in the oil markets. N fertilizers, therefore, are expensive inputs, costing...

Diazotrophic bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen to plant-useable form and this input of nitrogen through biological fixation is of great agronomic importance. The contributions presented in this volume relate to free-living nitrogen fixers and the diazotrophs associated with plants. Symbiotic association of Frankia with non-legumes and cyanobacterial associations are also discussed. Research topics covered in this volume include the biochemistry and genetics of diazotrophs, recent developments in improvement of plant-microbe interactions and their molecular basis, the use of...