Managing Salt Tolerance in Plants ─ Molecular and Genomic Perspectives

Scientists around the world are striving to develop crop varieties that are tolerant to salt stress. Salinity stress currently impacts more than 800 million hectares of land worldwide and more arable land is likely to be impacted in the future due to global climate changes. This book presents detailed molecular and genomic approaches for the development of crop plants that are tolerant to salinity stress. This comprehensive volume discusses salinity stress in plant adaptation and productivity, biochemical and molecular mechanisms responsible for plant salt tolerance, and genomic approaches for the development of plants tolerant to salinity stress.

Dr. Shabir Hussain Wani received his Ph.D. in plant breeding and genetics on "Transgenic rice for abiotic stress tolerance" from the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India in 2009. After his PhD, he worked as a research associate in the Biotechnology Laboratory, Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (ICAR), Rangreth Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India for two years up to October 2011. In November 2011, he joined the KrishiVigyan Kendra (Farm Science Centre) as Programme Coordinator (i/c) at Senapati Manipur India. Since May 2013, he has been an assistant professor/scientist at the Division of Genetics and Plant Breeding, SKUAST-K, Srinagar, Kashmir, India. He teaches courses related to plant breeding, seed science and technology, and stress breeding and has published more than 75 papers in journals and books of international and national repute. He has also edited several books on current topics in crop improvement. His Ph.D. research fetched the first prize in north zone at national level competition in India. He received a young scientist award from the Society for Promotion of Plant Sciences, Jaipur, India in 2009. He is a fellow of the Society for Plant Research, India. He has presented his research at several international and national conferences.

Dr. Mohammad Anwar Hossain received his Ph.D. in agriculture specializing in plant abiotic stress physiology and molecular biology from Ehime University, Japan in 2011. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in agriculture and genetics and plant breeding from Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh. He also earned his Master of Science degree in agriculture from Kagawa University, Japan. He has been an associate professor inthe Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding at Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh since September 2011. Dr. Hossain teaches plant breeding, advanced plant breeding, molecular plant breeding, and stress breeding. Hehas published 17 research articles, 16 chapters, and 4 review articles on important aspects of plant physiology and breeding, plant stress responses, environmental problems in relation to plant species, and the role of micronutrients on plant defense system. Presently he is working on elucidating the molecular mechanisms of plant abiotic stress tolerance in plants. He also supervises graduate students and servesas an editorial board member of several plant science journals. He attended and presented abstracts and posters atnational and international conferences in different countries. He is a professional member of the Plant Breeding and Genetics Society of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Association for Biotechnology, and Seed Science Society of Bangladesh.