Factors Affecting Salt Tolerance in Crop Plants

There are many environmental factors that adversely affect plant growth and its development. Development of crop plants with stress tolerance, however, requires, among others, knowledge of the physiological mechanisms and genetic controls of the contributing traits at different plant developmental stages. Abiotic stress factors are involved to provoke osmotic stress, oxidative stress and protein denaturation in plants, which are responsible for similar cellular adaptive responses such as accumulation of compatible solutes, induction of stress proteins, and acceleration of reactive oxygen species in scavenging systems. Improvement of plant tolerance to salinity injury either did by chemical treatments (plant hormones, minerals, amino acids, quaternary ammonium compounds, polyamines and vitamins) or biofertilizers treatments (Asymbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria, symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria and mycorrhiza). These factors are responsible for helping plants to do what they already do for stress tolerance.