About this Research Topic

Background

Salinity stress is serious abiotic stress that negatively affects crop productivity and global food security. One of the top ten threats to the world's land resources, the extent of soil salinity is increasing by 1.5 million hectares every year. Salinity stress is a global problem that threatens food productivity, food security, and ecosystems. Salinity affects seed germination, plant growth, nutrient and water uptake, physiology, and molecular responses. Increasing industrialization and anthropogenic activities further aggravate salinity stress. Global population is continuously rising, necessitating a substantial increase in crop production to meet food needs. Therefore, proper measures must be taken to improve crop productivity on salt-affected soils to ensure global food security. Recent studies have shown that the negative effects of salinity stress in plants can be countered by various biochemical, physiological, and molecular mechanisms at both tissue and whole plant levels. Progress in metabolomics, transcriptomics and proteomics has enabled the identification of various stress-induced proteins, metabolites, and transcription factors that can be used to develop salinity tolerance in plants. Moreover, advances in genomics and biotechnology allow for the breeding of salt tolerant cultivars with improved production potential in salt-affected soils.

Salinity stress can reduce crop productivity, food supply, and farmer’s income. Adverse effects on plant biochemical, physiological, and molecular processing result in a reduction in photosynthesis, cell elongation and division, cell turgor, and nutrient and water uptake. This in turn leads to an overall reduction in crop yield and quality. As the extent of salinity is expected to increase due to rapid climate change, the development of salt-tolerant cultivars is essential to improve agricultural output. Recent progress in genomics and biotechnology has allowed for better assessment and increased diversity in germplasm collection, as well as the identification of genes to control various traits under salinity stress. The use of biochar, nanoparticles, osmolytes, and microbes are important field management practices to reduce the negative effects of salinity stress. Therefore, research related to agronomic, genetics, molecular and physiological approaches is of paramount importance to improve salinity tolerance in crop plants.

This Research Topic will focus on the recent developments and future prospects in agronomic, genetic, molecular, and physiological approaches to developing salinity tolerance in crop plants. This topic will cover all aspects of salinity stress in plants, providing up-to-date and in-depth knowledge for increasing salinity tolerance. We welcome articles covering the following themes:

• Role of fertilizers, biochar, and nano-particles to improve salinity tolerance
• Use of microbes to induce salinity tolerance
• Use of plant extracts, osmolytes, and hormones for improving salinity tolerance
• Organic amendments and salinity stress management in plants
• Novel breeding practices for improving salinity tolerance
• Molecular, metabolomics, and proteomics approaches to enhance salt tolerance
• Characterization studies comprising salinity stress-responsive genes
• Soil fertility and salinity stress management
• Nutrient use efficiency under salinity stress

Keywords: salinity stress, salinity tolerance, crop productivity, genomics, biotechnology

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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