Abstract:
The accumulation of salt in arable lands is a source of significant abiotic stress, contributing
to a 10% decline in the world’s total arable lands and threatening food productivity and the sustainability of agriculture. About 76 million hectares of productive land are estimated to have been affected
by human-induced salinization such as extreme salt deposits in soil, which are mainly caused by
the actions of humans. For instance, continued irrigation and the frequent use of chemical fertilizers
need to be understood. To ensure food availability, it is essential to improve upon traditional farming
methods using current technologies to facilitate the reclamation of saline-affected arable lands to
achieve high and sustainable food production. This review details current innovative strategies
such as the modification of metabolic pathways, manipulation of antioxidant pathways, genetic
engineering, RNA interference technology, engineered nanoparticles, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
(AMF), organic amendments, and trace elements for improving saline marginal lands. These strategies were identified to have contributed to the improvement of plants salinity tolerance in diverse
ways. For instance, the accumulation of plant metabolites such as amino acids, sugars, polyols,
organic acids, saponins, anthocyanins, polyphenols, and tannins detoxify plants and play crucial
roles in mitigating the detrimental effects of oxidative damage posed by salinity stress. Multiple
plant miRNAs encoding the up- and down-regulation of single- and multi-ion transporters have
been engineered in plant species to enhance salt tolerance. Nanomaterials and plant root system
colonized by arbuscular mycorrhizal increase water uptake, photosynthetic efficiency, and biomass
allocation in plants exposed to saline stress by excluding 65 percent of the Na+ uptake and enhancing
K
+ uptake by 84.21 percent. Organic amendments and trace elements reduced salinity concentrations
by 22 percent and improved growth by up to 84 percent in maize subjected to salinity stress. This
study also discusses how researchers can use these strategies to improve plants growth, development,
and survival in saline soil conditions to enhance the productivity and sustainability of agriculture.
The strategies discussed in this study have also proven to be promising approaches for developing
salinity stress tolerance strategies for plants to increase agricultural productivity and sustainability.
