A Newcastle-based scientist developing salt-tolerant crops for food security has high hopes for seawater-based agriculture in a world troubled by water scarcity.
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University of Newcastle's Vanessa Melino worked in Saudi Arabia for four years before arriving in Newcastle three months ago.
"My interest is food security and economic viability," Dr Melino said.
Up to 30 per cent of arable land worldwide is affected by salinity, a problem that is worsening each year.
The world's population is projected to grow from about 8 billion to almost 10 billion by 2050, so it's thought that crop production on marginal land - including saline soils - must expand.
While most plants die in a salty environment, salicornia thrives. The plant is native to Saudi Arabia and exists in other saline areas of Asia, the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Northern Africa.
"Salicornia actually depends on saltwater to grow and reach maturity," Dr Melino said.
"I work with a farmer in Western Australia who says 25 per cent of his arable land is salt-affected. He's a wheat farmer, but can't crop on his salt-affected land anymore."
Dr Melino, a plant physiologist and molecular biologist, is hoping to establish a breeding program in Australia to give farmers the prospect of a salt-tolerant food crop.
By breeding a wild species, her team is "doing domestication".
"That's what our ancestors did 10,000 years ago with wheat," she said.
Dr Melino and her team are using "modern genomic and genetic tools" to select and introduce traits desirable for crops.
"Our goal is to turn this wild plant into a profitable oilseed crop for farmers."
The green shoots of salicornia, nicknamed sea asparagus, are edible.
"It's eaten in France, the Netherlands and Mexico. You can eat it raw or cooked," she said, adding "we fed it to Bill Gates in a salad 10 years ago".
"I eat it and cut it up with salads. Most cook it with fish - it pairs well with seafood because it's salty.
"It's a niche food. That's why I'm thinking the seed oil has good potential."
The plant could be used for protein-rich fish food or human food such as vegan sausages.
"We are trying to develop sustainable products that can be transported easily, using seawater for irrigation instead of relying on limited freshwater resources," Dr Melino says.
The native Australian version of the plant is called samphire, but it's a perennial.
"If I try to domesticate a perennial, I won't get a seed yield every year," she said.
"I'm at the stage where I have a bunch of seed assessments with the agriculture department waiting to see if they'll release my seeds into Australia."
In a study published in the journal Nature, Dr Melino and her team revealed new insights into the molecular mechanisms behind the salt-tolerance of salicornia.
"Our research reveals how salt-tolerant plants function on a molecular level to cope in extreme environments," she said.
"We can use this information to breed crops that can be cultivated with saline groundwater or even seawater."
