Potential use of saline resources for biofuel production using halophytes and marine algae: prospects and pitfalls.

There exists a global challenge of feeding the growing human population of the world and supplying its energy needs without exhausting global resources. This challenge includes the competition for biomass between food and fuel production. The aim of this paper is to review to what extent the biomass of plants growing under hostile conditions and on marginal lands could ease that competition.

Dormancy and germination responses of halophyte seeds to the application of ethylene.

Ethylene is invariably produced during seed germination but its role in regulating seed dormancy and germination is poorly understood. Seeds of 22 halophytic species having different life forms - salt secreting dicots, salt secreting monocots, stem succulents and leaf succulents were germinated in Petri dishes kept in a growth chamber set at 20/30 degrees C (night/day) temperature and a 12 hr light period. Sodium chloride and ethephon were added to the medium from the beginning of the experiment.