Towards a Sustainable Agriculture: Strategies Involving Phytoprotectants against Salt Stress

Abstract

Salinity is one of the main constraints for agriculture productivity worldwide. This important abiotic stress has worsened in the last 20 years due to the increase in water demands in arid and semi-arid areas. In this context, increasing tolerance of crop plants to salt stress is needed to guarantee future food supply to a growing population. This review compiles knowledge on the use of phytoprotectants of microbial origin (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria), osmoprotectants, melatonin, phytohormones and antioxidant metabolism-related compounds as alleviators of salt stress in numerous plant species. Phytoprotectants are discussed in detail, including their nature, applicability, and role in the plant in terms of physiological and phenotype effects. As a result, increased crop yield and crop quality can be achieved, which in turn positively impact food security. Herein, efforts from academic and industrial sectors should focus on defining the treatment conditions and plant-phytoprotectant associations providing higher benefits.

Halo-tolerant plant growth promoting rhizobacteria for improving productivity and remediation of saline soils

“…Apart from the direct exclusion of the salts from cells/roots/shoots, HT-PGPR also help the plant in accumulating low molecular weight osmolytes (soluble sugars, amino acids, quaternary amines, polyols and tetrahydropyrimidines) for maintaining ionic equilibrium in the cytoplasm under salinity stress [56] . It has been found that instead of synthesizing de novo , plants prefer uptake of osmolytes liberated by HT-PGPR when exposed to high salt conditions [57] , [28] .…”

Melatonin Suppressed the Heat Stress-Induced Damage in Wheat Seedlings by Modulating the Antioxidant Machinery

“…At the transcription level, transcription regulators and ROS-related genes provide a timely response to these deleterious environmental effects [ 2 ]. Previous studies demonstrated that various transcription factors (TFs) positively regulate the responses against different abiotic stresses such as WRKY (binding a specific DNA sequence through WRKYGQK peptide) and MYB-genes [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. From these, some specific genes such as TaWRKY26, TaWRKY39, and TaMYB80 were identified in a mitigation role against HS [ 12 , 16 ] in wheat.…”

“…The modulation of an antioxidant enzyme’s level and its activity in order to improve the detoxification of ROS (H 2 O 2 , O 2 − ) is considered to be fundamental to enhance stress tolerance of plants [ 26 , 27 ]. In addition, MT is capable of inducing gene expression under abiotic and biotic stresses, germination, growth, development activities etc., [ 10 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. With respect to the role of melatonin in heat tolerance, many studies reported that exogenous treatment with MT enhances tomato seedling tolerance to high temperatures by improving their antioxidant defense system [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ].…”

Where biotic and abiotic stress responses converge: Common patterns in response to salinity and Plum pox virus infection in pea and peach plants

“…Alternative approaches to cope with salt stress include the use of phytoprotectants such as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria, mycorrhizal fungi and osmoprotectants. Phytoprotectants mode of action converge into the regulation of nutrient and water balance, photosynthesis efficiency and the stimulation of antioxidant defence machinery, which leads to the amelioration of salt‐induced oxidative stress (Acosta‐Motos et al, 2020). The growth of pea cv.…”