Biocontrol and osmoprotection for plants under salinated conditions

Today, world agriculture faces an increasing threat by plant pathogens. This can hardly be overcome by conventional methods of pest management. Not only do synthetic pesticides show limited efficiency because of the development of resistance by the pathogen, consumers are also concerned more and more about their effects on environmental sustainability, food safety, and food quality. On the other hand, insufficient food supply and deficiencies of vitamins and micronutrients are widely spread problems in many developing countries and extensive and expensive agricultural efforts are required to address these problems. In many of these areas, soil salinization—originally caused by humidification because of the clearing of trees for agriculture and amplified by salt brought in by ground water and strong irrigation—is an enormous additional problem. In 1999, 42% of arable land in Asia and 31% in the Middle East and North Africa were irrigated; irrigated land in developing countries is estimated to increase by