ABSTRACT
Natural resources have been diminishing due to the pressure of increasing demands resulting from the ever-increasing population of the world. Inevitably, marginal and
long-neglected natural resources have to be re-assessed in preparation for utilization. It is estimated that 7-10% of the world land area is salt affected (Dudal and Purnell 1986). Halophytes (salt plants) survive salt concentrations around 200 mM NaCl or more in order to reproduce in environments where they constitute about 1% of the world’s fl ora (Flowers and Colmer 2008). They grow in many arid and semi-arid regions around the world and are distributed from coastal areas to mountains and deserts. Halophytes belong to several taxonomic groups. The word halophyte, then, does not imply any reference to being a particular taxon or belonging to any specifi c geographic or physiogeographic area (Squires and Ayoub 1994).
