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Abstract
Salinity is one of the main factors that limit rice production globally. In Sub Saharan Africa, soil salinity has affected many countries. Understanding the available screening techniques and the mechanisms of salinity tolerance in rice is very important for dealing with soil salinity problem. This review summarizes the extent of soil salinity problems in some of the affected African countries and the available salt stress-tolerant rice genotypes. The problems, challenges and opportunities of salt-affected soils in Sub Saharan Africa are thoroughly described in this review, which also looks at breeding techniques which have been used for developing rice cultivars adapted to salt stress. Among the best option to deal with salinity-related problems is through the use of tolerant rice varieties, as many other available management approaches are not economically feasible for small-scale farmers. Also, the review discusses different approaches, both conventional and molecular breeding approaches that have greatly enhanced the current rice breeders’ toolboxes for developing salt-tolerant rice varieties. The review suggests that more efforts are required to leverage conventional breeding with molecular techniques for speedy identification of tolerant cultivars, useful markers and quantitative trait loci (QTLs). It is recommended that it is crucial to reinforce collaborative efforts and continuous investment in research, capacity building, and knowledge sharing for developing improved rice tolerant cultivars in order to fully address salinity problems in African.
Reviewing Editor:
Acknowledgement
The support from climate-smart African rice research project for financial support through DANIDA is highly appreciated. Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) is recognized for granting study leave to the first author.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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Nafeti Titus Mheni
Nafeti Titus Mheni, is a research Scientist at Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), under the Ministry of Agriculture in Tanzania. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in the department of Crop Science and Horticulture. His research work is on “Quantitative Trait Loci Mapping (QTL) for salinity tolerance of rice”. This review paper is aimed to provide information on the problems of soil salinity in sub Saharan Africa and the available challenges which limits research on breeding rice for salt tolerance in the region. Research areas of interest includes crop improvement for abiotic and biotic stress through innovative integration of basic and applied research. He has a great interest on quantitative genetics, molecular plant breeding, genomic selection and quantitative trait loci mapping. With the current changes in climatic conditions, this paper aims to provide information regarding the extent of soil salinity problem in African countries and the available management options. The information also will be valuable to rice breeders across the continent, as some of the suggested breeding materials, techniques and the already identified genes for salinity tolerant can be used to speed up the development of tolerant rice cultivars adapted to African rice growing conditions.