Open Access

REVIEW

Salinity Stress in Wheat: Effects, Mechanisms and Management Strategies

by Mahmoud F. Seleiman^1,2,#,*, Muhammad Talha Aslam^3,#, Bushra Ahmed Alhammad⁴, Muhammad Umair Hassan⁵, Rizwan Maqbool³, Muhammad Umer Chattha³, Imran Khan³, Harun Ireri Gitari⁶, Omer S. Uslu⁷, Rana Roy⁸, Martin Leonardo Battaglia⁹

1 Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia
2 Department of Crop Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Menoufia University, Shibin El-kom, 32514, Egypt
3 Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan
4 Biology Department, College of Science and Humanity Studies, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Riyadh, 11942, Saudi Arabia
5 Research Center on Ecological Sciences, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China
6 Department of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, School of Agriculture and Enterprise Development, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya
7 Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Sutcu Imam, Kahramanmaras, 46040, Turkey
8 Department of Agroforestry & Environmental Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet, 3100, Bangladesh
9 Department of Animal Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14850, USA
# contributed equally in the manuscript

* Corresponding Author:Mahmoud F. Seleiman. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2022, 91(4), 667-694. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.017365

Received 05 May 2021; Accepted 20 August 2021; Issue published 09 December 2021

Abstract

Salinity stress is a major threat to global food production and its intensity is continuously increasing because of anthropogenic activities. Wheat is a staple food and a source of carbohydrates and calories for the majority of people across the globe. However, wheat productivity is adversely affected by salt stress, which is associated with a reduction in germination, growth, altered reproductive behavior and enzymatic activity, disrupted photosynthesis, hormonal imbalance, oxidative stress, and yield reductions. Thus, a better understanding of wheat (plant) behavior to salinity stress has essential implications to devise counter and alleviation measures to cope with salt stress. Different approaches including the selection of suitable cultivars, conventional breeding, and molecular techniques can be used for facing salt stress tolerance. However, these techniques are tedious, costly, and labor-intensive. Management practices are still helpful to improve the wheat performance under salinity stress. Use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, and exogenous application of phytohormones, seed priming, and nutrient management are important tools to improve wheat performance under salinity stress. In this paper, we discussed the effect of salinity stress on the wheat crop, possible mechanisms to deal with salinity stress, and management options to improve wheat performance under salinity conditions.

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Keywords

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