Physiology of Halophytes

Halophytes, salt-tolerant plants that grow in soils and waters with high salinity , are spectacular plants that can prove tremendously valuable to both man as well as nature due to their unique physiology , such as to enhance the productivity of crops in salt-affected soils, for land re-vegetation, to develop salt-tolerant crops, and to provide forage for cattle. This new book presents scientific knowledge and expertise on the mechanisms of plant responses to various environmental stresses, providing a systematic review of the physiological responses of halophytes to salinity , discussing adaptive pathways of halophytes and the prospects of increasing plant salinity tolerance.

Nivas Manohar Desai, PhD, is a Fellow of the Association of Plant Science Research as well as Assistant Professor of Botany and Plant Protection at Sadguru Gadage Maharaj College, Maharashtra, India. With over 15 years of experience in the field of plant science research, Dr. Desai has published international and national papers as well as many book chapters and edited eight books. His research areas are marine botany, plant physiology, functional foods, and photochemistry. He holds three Australian and six Indian patents. He has attended more than 30 international and national conferences. He is also the recipient of several young scientist awards and one research excellence award.

Ganesh Chandrakant Nikalje, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Botany at R. K. Talreja College, Ulhasnagar (affiliated to University of Mumbai), India. His major areas of resear ch are unravelling the salt adaptation mechanism of halophytes, development of bio-saline agriculture, phytoremediation, endophyte-assisted growth promotion and stress tolerance in plants, and assessment of wild vegetables for nutritional and value-added products. He is serving as an editor and reviewer for several international journals. He has been invited as a resource person for different conferences and symposia. To date, he has published three books, over 20 research/review papers in international journals, and over 16 book chapters in edited books for international publishers.