HALOPHYTES AS POTENTIAL FOR BIOMASS YIELD IN COASTAL AREAS OF THE WORLD.

.

There's a limited amount of fresh water in the world and more demand for it than the supply can fill. India has several thousand km long coast line and several million ha of saline soils. Rajasthan shares 60 pecent of wasteland. However Besides this halophytes like Haloxylon, Salicornia etc are common in saline soils of Rajasthan. Salicornia europaea L. is a halophyte that often occupies the lowest and most saline (>3.5% total salt) areas of salt marshes.This could be potential plant for oil and biomass production on hitherto un exploited sea shores. Salicornia brachiata Roxb. (Amaranthaceae), a leaf less succulent annual halophyte, having a unique genetic makeup which allows them to grow and survive under stress conditions. It is found commonly growing on the Gujarat coast in India. Investigations have been undertaken to raise halophytes in saline soils of Rajasthan. Agrotechnology for large scale cultivation of halophytes has been developed. In Salicornia oil contents were found to be related to the climatic conditions and their composition was also affected by the location of the seed collection. The oil contents varied from 16-36 percent.