Editing Rice (section)

=== Salt-tolerance ===

{{further|Crop tolerance to seawater}}

[[Soil salinity]] poses a major threat to rice crop productivity, particularly along low-lying coastal areas during the dry season.<ref name="irri.org"/><ref>{{cite web |work=[[International Rice Research Institute]] |title=Rice Breeding Course, Breeding for salt tolerance in rice, on line |url= http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/ricebreedingcourse/Breeding_for_salt_tolerance.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170505220950/http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/ricebreedingcourse/Breeding_for_salt_tolerance.htm |archive-date=May 5, 2017 }}</ref> For example, roughly {{convert|1|e6ha|e6acre|abbr=off}} of the coastal areas of [[Bangladesh]] are affected by saline soils.<ref>"{{cite web |url=http://irri.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=10379&Itemid=100242&lang=en |title=Less salt, please |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101133710/http://irri.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=10379&Itemid=100242&lang=en |archive-date= 1 November 2013 |last=Fredenburg |first=P. |date=2007 |access-date=30 September 2013 |publisher=[[International Rice Research Institute]] }}</ref> These high concentrations of salt can severely affect rice plants' [[physiology]], especially during early stages of growth, and as such farmers are often forced to abandon these areas.<ref name="IRRI-2013">"{{cite web |url=https://ricetoday.irri.org/wild-parent-spawns-super-salt-tolerant-rice/ |title=Wild parent spawns super salt tolerant rice | last = Barona-Edna | first = Liz | date = April 15, 2013 | accessdate = January 3, 2024 | work=Rice Today }}</ref>

Progress has been made in developing rice varieties capable of tolerating such conditions; the hybrid created from the cross between the commercial rice variety IR56 and the wild rice species ''Oryza coarctata'' is one example.<ref name="Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP)-2013">"{{cite web |url=https://www.integratedbreeding.net/news/breakthrough-salt-resistant-rice-research-single-baby-rice-plant-may-hold-future-extending-rice |title=Breakthrough in salt-resistant rice research—single baby rice plant may hold the future to extending rice farming |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102081913/https://www.integratedbreeding.net/news/breakthrough-salt-resistant-rice-research-single-baby-rice-plant-may-hold-future-extending-rice |archive-date=November 2, 2013 |work=Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) |date=2013 |access-date=October 6, 2013 }}</ref> ''O. coarctata'' can grow in soils with double the limit of salinity of normal varieties, but does not produce edible rice.<ref name="Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP)-2013"/> Developed by the [[International Rice Research Institute]], the [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrid]] variety utilises specialised leaf glands that remove salt into the atmosphere. It was produced from one successful [[embryo]] out of 34,000 crosses between the two species; this was then [[Backcrossing|backcrossed]] to IR56 with the aim of preserving the genes responsible for salt tolerance that were inherited from ''O. coarctata''.<ref name="IRRI-2013"/>