Crops are often exposed to salinity immediately after
planting in saline soil or in areas inundated by sea water
or irrigated with brackish water. The major inhibitory
effect of salinity on plant growth and development has
been attributed to osmotic inhibition of water availability
as well as the toxic effect of salt ions responsible for
salinization. Nutritional imbalance caused by such ions
leads to reduction in photosynthetic efficiency and other
physiological disorders (Yeo and Flowers, 1983; Yeo et
al., 1990). The global extent of primary salt-affected soils
is about 955 M ha, while secondary salinization affected
some 77 M ha, with 50% of these in irrigated areas