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An innovative in situ soil microbiome engineering approach, utilizing a plant hormone precursor called 1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), has successfully enhanced soil microbial characteristics and plant biomass production in salt-affected soils. This groundbreaking discovery by my group garnered significant media attention in 2019. The link of the study: Soil amendments with ethylene precursor affect the soil microbiome and reverse negative impacts of salinity on soil microbial functions.
A salt impacted field with white salt layer being witnessed over years. Source https://iiqp.biosaline.org/news/2018-07-17-6571. According to a study by UN University, about 62 million hectares (240 thousand square miles; 150 million acres), representing 20% of the world's irrigated lands are affected by salinity.
Salinity is a huge issue across the world, affecting more than 220 million hectares of the world’s irrigated farming and food-producing land. Salinity occurs when salty irrigation water is repeatedly applied to crops, leading to progressively increasing levels of salt in the soil which reduces crop yields, increases susceptibility to drought and damages soil microbiology. Scientists have long tried to find ways to breed salt-tolerance or develop methods that remove salt, and this new research is promising in its potential ability to reduce the damage in crop plants that results from salt.
"We identified a compound called ACC that occurs naturally in plants when they become stressed by drought, heat or salty conditions," said Dr Hongwei Liu, Postdoctoral Fellow in Soil Biology and Genomics at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University.
By applying ACC to crops planted into salty soils, it created conditions that prevented the formation of the compounds that cause plant damage under salty conditions and increased beneficial soil enzyme and microbial activity. These effects enabled the plants to cope with the salt and increased the growth of lettuce plants by nearly five times and model plants by over 30 times.
"We identified a compound called ACC that occurs naturally in plants when they become stressed by drought, heat or salty conditions," said Dr Hongwei Liu, Postdoctoral Fellow in Soil Biology and Genomics at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University.
By applying ACC to crops planted into salty soils, it created conditions that prevented the formation of the compounds that cause plant damage under salty conditions and increased beneficial soil enzyme and microbial activity. These effects enabled the plants to cope with the salt and increased the growth of lettuce plants by nearly five times and model plants by over 30 times.
New discovery could alleviate salty soil symptoms in food crops|Western Sydney University News
Lifting fertility in saline soils|The Land News
Discovery unleashes growth in salty soils|The University of Queensland News
New discovery could alleviate salty soil symtoms in food crops|Phys.Org Report
The Australian Cotton Grower|Australian Cotton Grower Magazine.