A wheat variety from ancient Persia has been used to successfully breed the world’s first salt-tolerant durum variety, says Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.
Australia produces high quality durum, but the crop’s sensitivity to salt has limited where it can be grown.
The new variety, bred by CSIRO Plant Industry and New South Wales Agriculture, will give farmers in salt-affected areas the opportunity to grow durum and attract its higher prices, while increasing Australia’s world market share in premium wheat.
“There are two mechanisms for salt tolerance in cereals like wheat,” said Rana Munns, senior research scientist at CSIRO Plant Industry.
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“One is the exclusion of salt by the plant’s roots, the other is tolerance of salt in the leaves. Bread wheat has one and barley has the other, but modern durum wheat has neither.”
Munns and Ray Hare, from Enterprise Grains Australia’s wheat and durum breeding program, discovered an ancient salt-tolerant durum wheat variety that excluded salt. The team was able to breed the ancient wheat’s tolerance mechanisms into modern breeding lines and current Australian varieties.
“Our test results indicate that the new durum wheat has salt tolerance equal to bread wheat, giving growers in salt-affected areas an alternative profitable crop,” Munns said.
Hare said extensive field trials are planned for the next growing season.
If successful, a salt-tolerant durum variety could be available to Australian growers within three years.
