Identifying and Categorizing Halophytes

Areas with high agricultural potential include arid zones, which make up 43% of the world's total area. In these areas the scarce precipitation and the high salinity of the soils represent a limitation for the development of conventional agriculture For this reason, it is essential to guide the efforts of research to generate agricultural technologies that innovate agroindustrial crops or develop endemic plant resources that have high industrialization potential, and that due to its production capacity in saline soils or drought conditions, allow us optimize the productivity of those áreas. In the last three decades, research efforts have been oriented towards study and development of plant resources that constitute an alternative to traditional agroindustrial. These studies show that halophytes are the most promising biological resources to exploit or develop economically in arid and coastal areas since they tolerate high concentrations of salts and they develop in coastal lands and salty soils of the world. The halophytes have a wide diversity of plant forms. Some halophytes have found a promising agro-industrial and economic potential. The agroindustrial importance of some halophytes, originates in their production capacity of forages, vegetable oils and food for human consumption essentially salads and flours. In addition, its applicability has been demonstrated in industries such as cosmetology, construction, (dry pressed fiber) and fundamentally for recovery of areas degraded by salinization, whether natural or induced by inadequate agricultural practices, which favors the rural economy. Halophytes have a wide distribution on the coasts of the world, so it is feasible to develop it as a new crop in some areas of the world with prospects of commercial exploitation. Because of their diversity, halophytes have been regarded as a rich source of potential new crops. Moreover, halophytes have applications in recycling saline agricultural wastewater and reclaiming salt-affected soil in arid-zone irrigation districts.