Planting trees on ... salt

At first glance, it was a joke, but this is the result of the research group of Haifa University, Israel. After many years, they discovered a gene that could help plants grow in salty water and desert.

The soil is salty and will grow trees ( Photo: VTV )

Along with saline intrusion, global warming temperatures also exacerbated desertification. The consequence of all this is that people do not have land to cultivate, crops cannot grow, leading to an increase in poverty. To this reality, Israeli scientists have come up with the idea of ​​finding a crop that can grow in both saltwater and desert environments.

The team at Haifa University, Israel, has cultivated a fungus that lives deep in the bottom of the Dead Sea - where most scientists think no organism exists ( In fact, the Dead Sea is a salt lake with a salt content of up to 34%, including lots of mage and calcium, so much salt that you can comfortably lie on the sea and read newspapers or make phone calls.

Professor Eviatar Nevo, Director of the Institute of Evolution, Haifa University, Israel and colleagues, isolated from this fungus a gene called HOG (high osmotic glycerol) or highly filtered glycerin.

' HOG is not just salt resistant. It is a neurotransmitter resistance gene. It is able to withstand high temperatures, low temperatures, melting of snow and resist oxidizing substances , 'he said.

Eviatar Nevo succeeded in separating the HOG gene and transplanting it into mustard plants. These plants then still live and grow normally in salt water.

Not only stopping at the mustard plant, Mr Nevo believes that this gene could help grow wheat, barley, corn and any other crop in salty soils. He said: " From this success, we can fully expand cultivation in the saline environment, desert environment, this is very important in poverty reduction ".

Worldwide, the land area can be grown less and less. Professor Nevo believes that nature always finds ways to combat and adapt to environmental change. Willows can thrive in saltwater and arid areas. Israeli scientists have studied the genetic mechanism of willow trees and discovered the gene called SP-1, which helps plant cells resist salt.

According to Professor Nevo, if it is possible to change or mimic this gene, it could create another revolution and it will help communities in the desert area to grow crops. " In terms of genetics, the organism is always changing because the environment also changes constantly. If the environment changes, organism doesn't change, it will be extinct ," said the teacher. Professor Nevo said.