ABSTRACT
The world population is projected to increase by more than one billion people within the next 15 years, reaching 8.5 billion in 2030, and to increase further to 9.7 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100. This will result in a need to increase the food production by 70% by 2050 to meet the demand (UN 2015). At the same time, global agricultural sustainability is jeopardized by a wide range of abiotic stress conditions; of these, drought and salinity are undoubtedly the most critical. The negative effect of both stresses is exacerbated by the current trends in climate change. Drought and salinity affect more than 10% of arable land, and desertification and salinization are rapidly increasing on a global scale, reducing average yields for most major crop plants by more than 50% (Bray et al. 2000). Therefore, future food security cannot be achieved without a major breakthrough in crop breeding for salinity and drought stress tolerance.
