Scientists working at an Australian university have successfully bred a hardy, high-yielding wheat variety that is tolerant of salty soil. The wheat, which was conventionally bred by scientists at the University of Adelaide, is a cross between a commercial wheat variety and an ancient species and may have implications for food security as more of the Earth’s growing regions become affected by salinisation.

Only 11 per cent of the Earth’s surface is suitable for growing and this amount may reduce as the effects of climate change become more pronounced. The Adelaide scientists hope that, as knowledge of plants’ genetic make-up improves, with the genomes of many food crops now successfully mapped, including the wheat plant, new breeding practices will help develop crops for those who need it most.

The scientists’ research was published today in the journal Nature Biotechnology; their salt tolerant wheat was shown to yield over 25 per cent more than control wheat in trials on salty soils. They said they hope their hope their work will go towards bringing an end to food shortages in arid and semi-arid regions.

The team crossed durum wheat with an ancestor of the wheat plant that contains a gene believed to be responsible for controlling the salt content in plants. The gene, which creates a protein in plants’ roots that prevents salt travelling up the plant, was first isolated by scientists over a decade ago.

One of the crop scientists, Matthew Gilliham, stated, "This is first time that ... a genetic variation that has been lost in plants through domestication has been reclaimed from a wild relative and put back into the plant."

In an interview with news agency Reuters, he explained the process, "We crossed the gene into modern, commercially-grown wheat. It confers salinity tolerance by withdrawing the salts from the xylem, retaining them in the roots and stopping them getting up the shoots where the salt damages the plant and stops it from photosynthesizing."

In Australia, where the wheat was developed, salinity is an increasing problem. Around 70 per cent of Australia’s wheat belt is thought to be affected by salinity (11 per cent of the country’s agricultural land), and climate change is expected to exacerbate the process. As the effects of climate change are felt, it is thought that the process of salinisation will see 34 per cent of Australia’s soils affected by 2050.

Dr Gilliham said the wheat has already entered breeding programmes and a commercial variety of the salt tolerant wheat could be available to farmers within the next five years.

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