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PREFACE

"A small step for man, a giant leap for mankind"

That's the phrase grandly applied to the first moon landing. But it suits even better an event whose outlines are emerging ever more clearly through the mists of prehistory: the discovery that wild grasses could be deliberately planted, cultivated and harvested as cereals.

Thus began agriculture a little more than 10,000 years ago, when climatic changes in the Near East reduced summertime food and forced a people called Natufians to plant wild cereals like einkorn wheat to tide them over. Most stalks of wild wheat shed grains too easily, but mutations without this characteristic quickly took over farmer's fields, marking the advent of domesticated agriculture. The domestication of animals came at least 1,000 years after the domestication of plants. But with agriculture came problems which mankind had not dealt with before.

Without proper agricultural and ecological practices salt problems and/or salt accumulation can occur under virtually any climate regime. Arid land climates and poorly draining soils, however, are particularly susceptible to salinization due evaporation that leaves the salt behind.

At any given site there is a dynamic balance between the loss of salt by drainage and the salt concentrating effect of irrigation and evaporation. In many areas the equilibrium level is above that at which conventional crops can be economically productive and hundreds of billions of dollars are lost each year due to salt.

World wide, approximately one third to one half of all irrigated lands have salt problems; the majority of which is in less developed arid regions. And, each year, millions of acres of irrigated lands go out of production due to salt. In fact, there is already twice as much salty land as there is irrigated land. Some scientists suggest that we have finally reached the point where there are no new "virgin" lands left to salinize.

The conversion of salty water to fresh water can be done by solar distillation, flash evaporation, reverse osmosis, dialysis and resin deionization. All these method are expensive. A new technology, capacitive deionization technology (CDT), developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, USA may soon make the desalting of brackish waters economical (Shepphard et al 1998).

If fresh water and adequate drainage is not available or is uneconomical, the only option is to plant salt-tolerant crops. Efforts to develop salt-tolerant crops have concentrated on using selection, hybridization, back crossing, tissue culture and genetic engineering. These efforts have met with limited success because conventional crops are principally derived from "fresh water ancestors" and are called glycophytes (glyco = sweet + phyte = plant; "sweet water" plants). The genetic capability for optimal growth at higher salinities is not known in glycophytes. So, some scientists have suggested that we find the "salt-tolerance" gene in wild plants that have optimal growth in high salinities, halophytes (Gr.; halo = salt + phyte = plant; "salt water" plants) and transfer their salt-tolerance gene to the conventional glycophyte crops. There was even a rumor a number of years ago that a Nobel prize might be awarded for the individual or group that could identify and transfer this gene to a traditional crop such as wheat, rice or corn, all salt-sensitve crops.

The term halophyte was coined by the US geologist Oscar E. Meinzer (1876-1948)(Encarta 1999). The term halophilous ("salt-loving"), describing organisms that grow or live in salty conditions such as salt marshes, was first used in 1888 by F.A. Lees in the Flora of Western Yorkshire in the phrase "Certain halophilous plants." Halotechny (Gr. Halo = salt + techny = art) is the technology of salt chemistry and was first used earlier in 1762, whereas the later term halology (Gr.; Halo = salt + ology = study of) is that branch of chemistry which treats the study of salts (& was first defined in 1854 in Mayne’s Expo. Lexicon) (OED 1971:1245). A halometer is an instrument used for measuring the external angle of salt crystals, and was first defined in 1854 by Mayne’s Expo. Lexicon. A salinometer is an instrument for measuring salt concentration in a liquid such as a brine and was first used in 1844 by Mr. J. Scott Russell who developed such an instrument, Russel’s Salinometer (OED 1971:2625) and the term salometer for the same type of instrument was first used by Maury in 1860 (OED 1971:2627). And, while we are mentioning all this, it is interesting to note that the term salt from the Latin word sal was first used circa 1000 AD as the form "sealt" (referring to the sea) or "salte." The "e" was dropped about 1290 and it has been salt ever since (OED 1971:2627).

How wild plants thrive in very salty water is not very well understood by this brave new genetic engineering technology. The genetic mechanisms may be simple or they may be inordinately complex precluding easy transfer to conventional crops. We do know, that in some halophytes over 1400 genes may be involved. There is some inference that these genes operate in concert with other enzyme systems more like an orchestra than a solo. And, to complicate matters further, it may be that each species of halophyte has a specific "orchestra" to match its particular enzyme system. In which case the transfer of one "orchestra" might not work well with the host glycophyte enzyme system. It does not appear that anyone will get a Nobel Prize any time soon for moving a halophyte "gene orchestra" in to wheat or rice any time soon. Still, the elucidation of halophyte mechanisms is an exciting field and someday the spin-offs could be of great significance. Biotechnology and "designer crops" are still a mist in the crystal ball of a revolutionary new kind of agriculture that is becoming clearer at a remarkable rate.

 

THE DOMESTICATION OF HALOPHYTES

Countries and areas with quantities of salty water and salty land may emerge with knowledge that has been with us for centuries that could broaden the crop diversity of our agricultural base. Presently, the sustenance of modern society hangs in the balance of three plants: Wheat, Corn and Rice ... meanwhile over a million people die each year due to starvation and malnutrition. Helping countries to become self-sufficient should be a principle goal of any halophyte domestication.

It also appears that, for the time being, most new halophyte crops will be used inland. There are several reasons. First, while halophytes can grow in sea water, most have significantly increased productivity at lower salinities. Second, while 20,000 miles of coastal desert seems vast, inland there is more than 300 times as much land already salinized. Third, many inland areas already have canals, fields, farms, infrastructure and hungry people in residence ... but no crop. Lastly, and perhaps this is more of a long-term consideration, coastal regions contain our store house or "library" of halophyte species and genetic information needed to develop future halophyte crops. Developing farmland over the rich coastal flora would be tantamount to burning the Library of Alexandria.

While new halophyte crops such as NyPa* Forage and NyPa Grain have the potential for utilizing salt-ruined land, stabilizing soil from wind and water erosion, providing pasturage and helping less advantaged populations to feed themselves, perhaps the most significant potential of these new crops is as a symbol of what could be lost by developing our coasts and of what could be gained by a balance of conservation, domestication and use of our coastal halophytes for human needs and the public trust for our children.

 

A BRIEF BACKGROUND AND REFERENCE SELECTION

My interest in halophytes began in the early 1970’s when I made the first discovery of intertidal ants (Yensen et al 1980). The ants (still un-described) have air-lock chambers and will use halophytes to "pasture" scale insects (for their honey dew) during the neap tides and during the spring tides take their "cows" down into air-tight chambers to keep them from drowning. While teaching Marine Algae and revising the taxonomy of the Sargassum spp. in the Gulf of California (Yensen 1977a, 1977b.), I began to study ecology of the halophytes of Estero Morua near Puerto Peñasco on the Gulf of California coast in Mexico. I read and bought as many books as I could find on the subject [and still do]. One of the classics of that period is Salinity and Aridity - New Approaches to Old Problems (Boyko 1966). Elizabeth and Hugo Boyko, in many ways, were true pioneers of the new field and grew many different species in salinity trials near Eilat. At the time there weren’t too many people trying to grow halophytes as a crop with saline water. This particularly fascinated me when I found out that there is roughly twice as much saline land on this planet as there is irrigated land. And, in the last 30-40 years, the addition of plastics to agriculture now makes non-corroding water distribution systems possible (Yensen 1983).

In 1979, when Dr. Fred Somers (see Somers 1975) of the University of Delaware came visiting with the idea of collecting wild halophytes to domesticate as crops, I had a good background in halophytes (with respect to the knowledge of the time) and had the privilege of accompanying he and Dr. Miguel Fontes of the University of Arizona on halophyte collecting trips along the sea coast, primarily because I knew the names of the halophytes. I was then hired full time to collect halophytes and start the Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO).

The next two years were primarily devoted to getting the CEDO building functional and receiving classes and researchers, although I did go on a number of halophyte collecting trips. By 1981 CEDO was well established with clientele and facilities & I’d hired Peggy Turk to administer it; so I went to Tucson to work full-time on halophytes at the Environmental Research Lab (ERL) of the University of Arizona. With a Rockefeller grant I was able to collect halophytes in South America and throughout the western USA. In 1983 I left the University of Arizona to breed the world’s first patented halophyte cereal crop, WildWheat® grain and NyPa® grain (Distichlis palmeri) and form the company NyPa Inc. (the name NyPa is after nyipa the Cocopa Indian name for a grain that grows in sea water). I was awarded 7 patents and I tried to continue teaching a Saline Agriculture course at the University but partly due to travel schedules had to abandon teaching. Fresh out of college I was once honored as the Outstanding Biology teacher for the state of Idaho and my love for teaching was in a difficult conflict with the "powers-that-be." Fortunately, I think, I moved out of teaching and academia into the business world and learned more real-world business than most MBAs get a chance to learn. This "hard-knocks" business school has also allowed me to traveled around the world over 20 times and visit over 50 countries. As my hair turns gray and the demands on my time continue to grow, it became apparent that there is a need to "get the information out" regarding halophytes and their uses. The reams of proprietary data on the shelves of NyPa and in my personal library would do little good if they just sat there. And also, because I can’t remember everything about halophytes, I began to assemble the present volume.

The following public domain volumes should also help one interested in the new and rapidly growing field of halophytology (term coined herewith), that is, the science and study of halophytes. These are some works that I would recommended to one interested in halophytology:

Griffin Shay (1990) of the National Research Council has assembled an excellent little book, Saline Agriculture: Salt-tolerant Plants for Developing Countries, of which I was honored to help edit. This book has also been translated into Chinese. Aronson’s (1989) Haloph, is also an excellent condensed listing of many halophyte species and was an inspiration to the present volume. Other listings of halophyte species can be found in FAO’s Halophytes of Latin America and the World: their use with saline & waste waters and marginal soils which is in both Spanish and English (Yensen 1998); Halophytes of the Gulf of California and their Uses (Yensen 1999) is also in Spanish and English; Duncan’s (1974) Vascular halophytes of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts; Macdonald and Barbour’s (1974) Beach and salt marsh vegetation of the North American Pacific coast;

Basic background works regarding halophyte biology can be found in Yoav Waisel’s 1972 classic Biology of Halophytes. For a good review of the world’s salinity problem see Ghassemi, Jakeman and Nix’s (1995) Salinization of Land and Water Resources. Technical aspects of saline irrigation and soil management may be found in Gupta and Gupta’s (1987) Management of Saline Soils and Waters. Along these lines the American Society of Civil Engineers through the editorial efforts of Ken Tanji (1990) have produced a well organized multi-authored handy volume entitled Agricultural Salinity Assessment and Management with both practical and theoretical considerations. Another practical and very well done little book is Ed Barrett-Lennard and Clive Malcolm’s (1995) Saltland Pastures in Australia. Carty et al (1997) have put together a saline soil remediation manual for the petroleum industry, Remediation of Salt-Affected Soils at Oil and Gas Production Facilities, which includes some mention of halophytes. A good book on hypersaline biology and chemistry is Barbara Javor’s (1989) Hypersaline Environments.

There are many Proceedings of Symposia, Conferences that have much collected information regarding halophytes. A few of these are: Ecology of Halophytes (Reimold and Queen eds. 1974), Managing Saline Water for Irrigation (Dregne ed. 1977), The Biosaline Concept (Hollaender et al eds. 1979), Biosaline Research (San Pietro ed. 1982), Contributions to the Ecology of Halophytes (Sen and Rajpurohit eds. 1982), Prospects for Biosaline Research (Ahmad and San Pietro eds. 1986), Strategies for Utilizing Salt Affected Lands (Moncharoen et al eds. 1992), Toward the Rational Use of High Salinity Tolerant Plants - 2 volumes (Lieth and Masoom eds. 1993), Halophyte Utilization in Agriculture (Choukr-Allah ed. 1993), Biology of Salt Tolerant Plants (Khan and Ungar eds. 1995)[which has a brief introductory chapter summarizing some of the recent advances (Yensen 1995)], Halophytes and Biosaline Agriculture (Choukr-Allah et al eds. 1996), International Symposium on Salt-Affected Lagoon Ecosystems (Batlle-Sales ed. 1997).

There are also many books dealing with saline estuaries and mangrove ecology, but two of the classics are Chapman’s Salt Marshes and Salt Deserts of the World (1974) and Mangrove Vegetation (1975). And, B. Rollet (1981) has assembled an extensive reference volume on mangroves, Bibliography on Mangrove Research 1600-1975. Patricia Hutchings and Peter Saenger’s (1987) Ecology of Mangroves is a fine synthesis of the literature on mangrove biology and ecology.

And for additional reference material on halophyte literature (much broader than the title would infer) one can utilize Shoaib Ismail’s fine compilation: A Bibliography of Forage Halophytes and Trees for Salt-Affected Land: Their Use, Culture and Physiology (1990).

In the pages that follow please find a brief index to 1883 species of the world's out-doors-library of salt-tolerant plants and a few notes on their potential uses.

 

Nicholas P. Yensen

Tucson, Arizona, USA

22 March 1999

* NyPa is a registered trademark.


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