Neodomestication of Saltgrass (Distichlis spp.):
Genomic and Agronomic Insights for Salinity-Resilient Agriculture

Agriculture productivity has constrained freshwater supplies and is suffering from increasing soil salinity. A staggering 20% of the world's arable land is already affected by salt accumulation with some arid areas experiencing salinity in up to half their irrigated land.  Annual cropping systems, dominated by salt-sensitive cereal crops like wheat, rice, and maize, exacerbate soil degradation and yield losses under salt and drought stress.

Halophytes, or "salt-loving" plants, offer a promising alternative. These resilient species thrive in saline environments, even growing in seawater. Distichlis, is a genus of perennial grasses found throughout coastal and inland saltmarshes in North and South America. They possess unique mechanisms, like salt glands that enable them to excrete Na⁺ and Cl^- from their leaves. One particularly promising species, Distichlis palmeri, even produces a grain similar to rice in size and nutrition. This makes D. palmeri a potential halophytic grain crop for areas facing water scarcity and soil salinity issues. 

We present an overview of work in saltgrass to establish a foundation for neo-domestication including germplasm collections and genomic resources.  We describe some agronomic characteristics of the Distichlis species with the vision for their potential integration into high-salinity agriculture.

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