Salt, a chemical compound with the formula NaCl, is one of those responsible for the salinity of the ocean as well as the extracellular fluid of some organisms. However, it is also responsible for the death of many plants by absorbing their essential nutrients such as potassium, calcium and magnesium.
So how can plants survive if more than 97 percent of Earth’s water is salty? Of the 400,000 species of plants around the world, 2,600 feed on the sea. Among them are halophytes, which mean “salt plants”, which are in contact with salt water through their roots in mangroves, marshes and swamps.
So, this species may become the key to controlling . According to Mark Anderson, biology and technology expert:
Between increasing droughts and floods, the surface area of freshwater available for conventional agriculture is rapidly shrinking. A sixth of the world’s populations base their lives on Eurasian rivers, whose origins are from the Himalayan glaciers, which are disappearing due to the .
With fertile land so limited and freshwater supplies dwindling, conventional biofuel crops have to fight for space for their own food and water. In both cases, we are running out of fertile land.
Then the halophytes enter. Edward Gleen, an environmental scientist at the University of Arizona, sees them as an effective way to address the problem. Deforestation generates an incredible 20 percent of greenhouse gases (exceeding the total carbon emissions of cars, trucks, ships and planes around the world), and most of the logging is aimed at creating space for freshwater agriculture. “If new farmland could be developed using salt water from the sea and deserts, and preserve all those forest spaces, that would really make a contribution to the carbon balance and climate change.”
Dennis Bushnell, chief scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center, is concerned not only with the analysis of stones in space but also with global problems. He predicts that by developing salt-based agriculture, we could then control aquifer problems in an average of 15 to 20 years, freeing up almost 70 percent of the water we are using for conventional agriculture. The beauty of halophytes is that you can grow them anywhere there is salt water. And we have plenty of that.”
According to researchers at the University of Delaware, a perennial species called Kosteletzkya pentacarpos could operate in the desert in salty lands of the regions of North America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and western Asia. This species can grow in salty lands, using saline water irrigation. It is not invasive. It is tolerant of both droughts and floods. And its seeds are plausible candidates for biofuels.
Research published in the journal Renewable Energy analyzes that the plant has potential as biodiesel and a source of ethanol, revealing an important commercial use as litter or clothing for animals.
The seed body is an important source of amino acids. The roots, roots, and biopolymers in the plant can also be used as gums for industrial chemicals. It is also quite affordable to grow.
The great opportunity for halophytes, on a commercial and environmental level, is fuel. But converting halophyte biofuel on a commercial scale would require enormous energy demands. “Companies should become farmers instead of digging holes in the ground,” explains Bushnell.
There is no magic switch that will make everything disappear, and halophytes will not save the planet from solar power, the need for fuel, or genetic engineering any sooner. We may not be able to escape the inevitable, but we could at least learn to defend ourselves against the blows.