Effects of Salinity Stress on Morpho-Physiology, Biochemistry, and Proteomic Responses of Plants

Abstract

Salinity is an important abiotic stress that limits plant growth and low-quality water and saline soils that usually grow plants trigger the adverse effects of salinity on the growth and development of plants/crops. Plants grown under saline soil conditions undergo high levels of osmotic stress, ion toxicity, and nutritional disorders. These conditions are responsible for the poor physical conditions of the soils and result in decreased plant growth and productivity. Plants exhibit a variety of responses that influence morphological, physiological, and biochemical processes under salt stress conditions. Physiological, biochemical, and molecular properties of plants are important factors to alleviate the adverse effects of salinity on plant growth and productivity. Recent research on plant responses due to soil salinity underscored the value of integrating various advanced strategies to address the question of soil salinity. Proteomics and quantitative proteomics, in particular, are emerging as important techniques to be used for research on crop abiotic stress tolerance. Studying the post-translational changes of proteins provides valuable information about how they interact as well as where they work. Thus, this information can be applied to select biomarkers, transgentic methods and investigate new traits involved in the stress-tolerance processes.