Triticeae: The Ultimate Source of Abiotic Stress Tolerance Improvement in Wheat

Abstract

Salinity of arable land is one of the major abiotic stresses, which along with the world population is increasing simultaneously at a very rapid pace. In some of the developing countries especially those located in the arid regions, more than 50% of their arable land is affected while it is anticipated that about 6.8 billion of anticipated 8 billion people would be living in these countries. Wheat and wheat based products are their major staple food which needs to be increased by 40% if food security is to be ensured to this much population. This is possible only through cultivation of saline lands provided; salt tolerant wheat varieties are available. Efforts made so for in this direction have not produced results of any practical signifi cance despite the fact that tribe Triticeae to which bread wheat belongs; possess tremendous potential for salt tolerance that has been extensively and practically identified, tested and transferred to wheat cultivars with proven expression of tolerance. In this paper we are discussing (i) the potential of salt tolerance in wild wheat grasses and genome contributing species of Triticeae, (ii) success related with practical utilization of this potential and (iii) future prospects of using Triticeae as potential source of salt tolerance improvement in wheat.