The Salt Lab Overview
Soil salinity, heat, and drought are major constraints on crop productivity, especially in arid regions like Saudi Arabia, where much of the fresh produce is imported. Since 2013, the Salt Lab at KAUST, led by Professor Mark Tester, has studied how plants cope with these stresses in order to develop more resilient crops. We start with nature’s own diversity. Using forward genetics, we find the traits and genes that help wild relatives and naturally tolerant plants thrive, then bring them into crops through breeding.
Our work ranges from salt tolerance in Salicornia, a plant that thrives on seawater, to heat-tolerant quinoa, resilient rootstocks, polyploid tomatoes, and disease resistance. Across the lab, greenhouse, and field, our team, the “Salties,” shares one goal: sustainable agriculture and food security for Saudi Arabia and the world.
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10 November, 2026
Professor Tester will deliver a keynote presentation titled “Development and Delivery of Stress Tolerant Crops for Marginal Environments” at Biostimulants World Congress 2026 in Sacramento.
20 October, 2026
Dayana presented her research poster titled “Factors Influencing Genome Stabilization in Synthetic Allotetraploid Tomatoes" at IPC2026!
11 September, 2026
Our new Nature Communications study maps the genomes of Salicornia, a seawater-irrigated edible plant, opening the door to salt-tolerant crops.
