Wild Halophytes: Tools for Understanding Salt Tolerance Mechanisms of Plants and for Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change

• Other Authors: Vicente, Oscar (Editor), Grigore‬, Marius-Nicusor (Editor)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2023
• Subjects: Research & information: general; Biology, life sciences; Botany & plant sciences; halophytes; Amaranthaceae; salinity; antioxidant enzymes; phenolic compounds; salt stress; growth responses; ion accumulation; osmolytes; oxidative stress biomarkers; antioxidants; climate change; growth; osmolyte accumulation; phytohormones; polyamines; salicylic acid; biosaline agriculture; salt tolerance; osmotic stress; pre-conditioning; intraspecific variability; bioactive compounds; flavonoids; fatty acids; Suaeda; physiology; oxidative stress; potential toxic elements; betacyanin; carbon; nitrogen; phytoremediation; rice; halophyte; root; microelectrode ion flux; MIFE; transporters; inflorescences; ion localization; forage legumes; ions; mineral nutrition; salinity tolerance; strawberry clover; morphology; anatomy; catalase; peroxidase; hydrogen peroxide; chlorophyll content; Sarcocornia fruticosa; Salicornia europaea; Salicornia veneta; drought stress; stress recovery; ion transport; oxidative stress markers; salt glands; recretohalophytes; endemism; water deficit; osmolytes accumulation; drought tolerance; conservation programmes; climate emergency; crops' wild relatives; glycophytes; salt tolerance mechanisms
• Online Access: DOAB: download the publication; DOAB: description of the publication

Halophytes are a fascinating group of wild plants adapted to highly saline natural habitats, where most plant species and all our conventional crops would not survive. In fact, some halophytes can withstand even seawater salinity. In the current climate change scenario, increasing average temperatures and drought episodes contribute to the accelerated salinisation of irrigated cropland, especially in arid and semiarid regions, by the progressive accumulation in the soil of salts dissolved in irrigation water. This 'secondary salinisation' is one of the major causes of reducing crop yields worldwide. In this context, halophytes represent ideal experimental systems to investigate the mechanisms plants use to respond to high-salinity conditions. This knowledge will be essential for the genetic improvement of crop salt tolerance, which represents the most sensible strategy to address the abovementioned problem. Furthermore, halophytes could be the basis of a sustainable, 'saline' agriculture, after domestication and some breeding to improve agronomic characteristics. Then, they could be commercially cultivated for food, feed, fibre, or the production of biomolecules of industrial interest. Since they could be grown in saline land and irrigated with brackish water, they will not compete with our conventional crops for these limited resources, fertile land and good-quality water for irrigation. The articles included in this Special Issue address these different aspects of halophytes' research, although most focus on basic studies on salt-tolerance mechanisms.