Background

Salt stress

Soil salinity is a measure of the total amount of soluble salts in soil (Reference 1). As salinity levels increase, plants extract water less easily from soil (Reference 1). High soil salinity can also create nutrient imbalances, resulting in the building up of elements toxic to plants (Reference 2). In many parts of the world, soil salinity limits plant growth. It is believed to affect almost one-fifth of the world’s irrigated land and causes 10 million irrigated hectors to be abandoned each year (Reference 3). Therefore, the availability of salt-tolerant crops will increase the worldwide crop production.

Canola

Canola (Brassica napus and Brassica rapa) is a genetically altered form of rapeseed with low erucic acid and low glucosinates. Canola has the lowest content of total saturated fatty acids among major oil seeds in the world (Reference 4). Canada is currently the world’s leading exporter of canola seeds and its processed oil. Brassica crops, in particular Brassica napus, generate more than $6B in annual economic activity in Canada (Reference 4). Therefore, improving the seed production of canola in all kinds of environment is very important.

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a powerful tool that uses biology to create new products. Agricultural biotechnology is a precise new way to make crops with special qualities, and could allow farmers to grow crops that are more nutritious, more resistant to stress and more productive. Although there are some reports about the use of biotechnology in increasing the salt tolerance of plants (Reference 5-7), most of them have laid their emphasis on the effect of salt on vegetative growth. As new genes or new function of the genes involved in salt tolerance are discovered, their effects in increasing the salt tolerance in plants need to be investigated also. In this science fair project, I explored the overall effect of salt on both the germination and vegetative growth of one of the lines of the most important crops in Canada, canola (specifically, Brassica napus cv Westar); and saw with my own eye that biotechnology can help to improve canola to salt stress. The lines I tested were improved lines developed by others that contained a gene which has been shown to reduce other forms of stress.