Drought and salinity tolerant biofuel crops for the thar desert

Abstract

Growing bioenergy crops on marginal use lands will be crucial in future for food security as well as reducing the liability of fuel import. Thar Desert, the world's ninth largest subtropical desert, can be potentially used for the cultivation of bioenergy crops like Jojoba, Jatropha, Guayule, Pearl millet, and Sweet sorghum. These plants are well suited to grow in hot arid environments and have special growth characteristics such as low water consumption under high salinity and adverse soil conditions and require less amount of soil nitrogen for their farming. The bioenergy plant biomass can be easily converted into biodiesel, jet fuel, or various biogases. Further, tapping the advancement of genetic engineering technology, the potential of these crops can be enhanced for their better adaptability to arid zone, in addition to improving the economy of rural areas of the Great Indian Desert not only for biofuel production but as an alternative feed for animals and industrial products that are discussed in this chapter.