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Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Crops for Sustainable Agriculture

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 27987

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Zhong-Hua Chen

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Guest Editor

School of Science, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
Interests: agricultural science; greenhouse horticulture; plant stress biology; evolutionary biology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Wenying Zhang

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Guest Editor

Research Center of Crop Stresses Resistance Technologies, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434025, China
Interests: environmental (abiotic) stress tolerance in plants

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fanrong Zeng

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Guest Editor

Institute of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: physiological and molecular mechanisms in plant adaptive response to abiotic stresses; cell signals for lodicules swelling-to-wilting during floret opening-to-closing in Gramineae crops; absorption, transport, accumulation and metabolism of toxic pollutants (heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, etc.) in crops; crop nutrients utilization efficiency
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Fenglin Deng

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Guest Editor

College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434025, China
Interests: Plant stress physiology; Plant nutrition; Plant molecular biology; Plant evolution

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid population growth needs be accompanied by a massive increase in sustainable food production. However, global crop productivity is remarkably impaired by drought and soil salinity. It is estimated that 45% of agricultural lands are subject to continuous or frequent drought conditions. Additionally, approximately 4.03 billion people living in 13 countries are seriously affected by soil salinity, which represents 52% of the world’s population. Therefore, there is an urgent need to generate high-yielding plants that use water more efficiently with moderate-to-high salt tolerance. Although comprehensive achievements including salt and drought stress sensing and signaling pathways, ion transport and homeostasis, hormonal and gene expression regulation, metabolic changes, as well as physiological responses in Arabidopsis and some key crop species have been obtained, our understanding of the drought and salinity tolerance of some crops—especially vegetables and cash crops—are limited. Thus, the target crop species of this Special Issue can be broad acre crops, horticultural crops, as well as cash crops.

This Special Issue of Sustainability provides a platform for researchers to publish high-quality original research papers and reviews that focus on the physiological, molecular, and genetic basis of plants’ response to salt and/or drought stress, as well as strategies for improving stress tolerance. Submissions on related topic areas such as plant systematics, comparative genomics, molecular biology, physiology, and ecology, as well as sustainable agricultural practices and engineering and technological approaches to mitigate drought and/or salinity stress in crops are all encouraged to consider this Special Issue. This Special Issue will fill some important knowledge gaps in the mechanisms underlying drought and soil salinity tolerance in some crops. It will also shed light on the future sustainability of agriculture and horticulture by addressing these two major issues.

Prof. Dr. Zhong-Hua Chen
Prof. Dr. Wenying Zhang
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fanrong Zeng
Prof. Dr. Fenglin Deng
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

Salt stress
Drought
Crop management
Crop physiology
Regulatory network
Gene family evolution
Mitigation strategies
Sustainable food production

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2585 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Increasing Salinity by Drip Irrigation on Total Grain Weight Show High Yield Potential of Putative Salt-Tolerant Mutagenized Wheat Lines

by Hesam Mousavi, Bas Bruning, Gerrit Van Straten, Åsgeir R. Almås, Johanna Lethin, Nupur Naik, Sameer Hassan, Olof Olsson and Henrik Aronsson

Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5061; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14095061 - 22 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1696

Abstract

Twenty-three lines from a mutagenized Bangladeshi BARI Gom-25 wheat population that included previously identified salt-tolerant lines, and the BARI Gom-25 control variety, were cultivated in a drip-irrigated salinity test field at Salt Farm Texel, Netherlands, to assess their performance during salt stress in European climatic conditions. Lines were tested at irrigation salinity levels of 1, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 dS m⁻¹ in four repetitions of plots with 24 plants per plot. Average plant height, tiller number, spike length, frequency of live plants, and total grain weight (TGW) were recorded as functions of seasonal mean pore water salinity in the soil. Increases in salinity triggered reductions in all evaluated variables of the assessed lines and the control variety. However, nine mutagenized lines had at least twofold higher mean TGW than the control variety, 18.73 ± 4.19 g/plot at 1–16 dS m⁻¹ salinity levels. Common models of salt tolerance confirmed this pattern, but there were no clear differences in salinity tolerance parameter estimates between the mutagenized lines and the control variety. Thus, despite the apparent similarity in responses of all lines to salinity increase, we clearly identified lines that tended to have higher TGW at given salinities than the control variety. This higher TGW at the full range of salinity treatments indicates not only a possible higher salinity tolerance but a higher yield potential as well. The mechanisms involved clearly warrant further attention. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Crops for Sustainable Agriculture)

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19 pages, 2393 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Early Sowing of Quinoa Cultivars, Benefits from Rainy Season and Enhances Quinoa Development, Growth, and Yield under Arid Condition in Morocco

by Nawal Taaime, Khalil El Mejahed, Mariam Moussafir, Rachid Bouabid, Abdallah Oukarroum, Redouane Choukr-Allah and Mohamed El Gharous

Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 4010; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14074010 - 29 Mar 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1965

Abstract

Quinoa is a highly nutritious and gluten-free crop. It is a good alternative crop to cereals in the context of climate change. In the process of introducing quinoa to an arid region of Morocco (Rehamna), late sowing results in stunted plants and low yields due to insufficient precipitations and high temperatures around the flowering stage. Early sowing of short-cycle cultivars constitutes a good strategy to enhance growth and yields. A field experiment was conducted in the Rehamna region in 2020–2021 to investigate the effect of the sowing date on quinoa growth, development, and yield. Two cultivars, ICBA-Q5 and Titicaca, and five sowing dates from 15 November to 15 March were evaluated. Results showed that December sowing enhanced plant height, total leaf area, the number and dry weight of branches, leaves, and panicles, and enhanced quinoa productivity, due to high precipitations, optimal temperatures, and a short photoperiod. The highest grain yield (0.84 t ha⁻¹) was obtained with ICBA-Q5. Late sowing decreased the yield and growth and reduced the number of days to panicle emergence, flowering, and maturity for both cultivars. Early sowing of ICBA-Q5 is recommended to increase quinoa yield in arid regions of Morocco. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Crops for Sustainable Agriculture)

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9 pages, 10297 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of Novel Rice Germplasm for Salt-Tolerance at Seedling Stage Using CRISPR-Cas9

by Xiaoli Han, Zhijun Chen, Peide Li, Huashan Xu, Kai Liu, Wenjun Zha, Sanhe Li, Junxiao Chen, Guocai Yang, Jianliang Huang, Aiqing You and Lei Zhou

Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2621; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14052621 - 24 Feb 2022

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2472

Abstract

Saline-alkali tolerant rice, as the first selected grain crop for improving coastal tidal land and saline-alkali land, has great potential for comprehensive utilization. In this study, an elite three-line restorer in breeding, R192, was taken as the receptor, and CRISPR/Cas9 technology was used to perform the directional editing of OsRR22, the main effect gene, which controls salt tolerance in rice. Eight transgenic plants of the T₀ generation with the OsRR22 gene knockout were obtained, and the transgenic seedlings were screened by using PCR amplification and sequence comparison. The homozygous mutant lines, M16 and M18, with OsRR22 knockout, which did not contain a transgenic vector skeleton, were identified in the T₂ generation. There were +1 bp and −20 bp in the exon regions of M16 and M18, respectively. At the three-leaf and one-heart stage, the seedlings were treated with 0.4% and 0.8% NaCl solution, and then their salt tolerance during the seedling stage was identified. The results showed that, without the salt treatment, no significant differences were found in plant height, the number of green leaves, total dry weight, and total fresh weight between the mutant lines M16 and M18 and the wildtype (WT) R192. However, after treatment with two different salt concentrations, the M16 and M18 mutants showed extremely significant differences in comparison with WT in plant height, the number of green leaves, total dry weight, and total fresh weight; between mutants and WT, there were significant differences in the number of green leaves, total fresh weight, and total dry weight after two salt treatments. Our results indicate the new germplasm with the OsRR22 mutation induced by CRISPR/Cas9 technology could improve the salt tolerance of rice, providing a reference for the improvement of salt tolerance of rice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Crops for Sustainable Agriculture)

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13 pages, 2546 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of the Effects of Magnetically Treated Saline Water on Physiological, Antioxidant and Agronomic Traits of Jojoba [Simmondsia chinensis (Link) Schneider]

by Fahad Alghabari

Sustainability 2021, 13(23), 13199; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132313199 - 29 Nov 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1554

Abstract

Salinity poses a serious challenge to agriculture across the globe. In the Middle East, countries such as Saudi Arabia are facing potential problems of salinity due to the use of processed saline Red Sea water for agriculture. To tackle this challenge, the current study was conducted with the objective of assessing the effects of magnetically (1.80 mT) treated normal agriculture water (NW = 2.11 DSm⁻¹) and different concentrations of Red Sea water (RSWC1 = 5.61 DSm⁻¹ and RSWC2 = 7.01 DSm⁻¹) on the physiological traits (chlorophyll, photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and membrane damage), antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase), proline and agronomic characteristics (germination percentage, germination rate, shoot length and root length) of jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) seedlings. The experiment was set in a glasshouse with three replicates, using RCBD with two factorial arrangements. The data were collected and subjected to statistical analysis using statistix8.1 and R-program. All magnetically treated concentrations of saline water showed significant improvements in all traits compared with their respective controls, except proline, membrane damage (MD) and germination rate (GR). However, the response of these all traits was more significant at NW compared with RSWC1 and RSWC2. Furthermore, correlation, PCA and heat map analysis revealed that all traits are significantly interlinked in determining the jojoba response to different concentrations of salinity, both in the presence and absence of MF. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Crops for Sustainable Agriculture)

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14 pages, 1267 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Changes in Reserve Mobilization Caused by Salinity Could Interfere in the Initial Growth of Jatropha curcas

by Emannuella Lira, Joilma Souza, Lucas Galdino, Cristiane Macêdo, Anselmo Silva, Yuri Melo, Ivanice Santos, Nair Arriel, Carlos Meneses and Josemir Maia

Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7446; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13137446 - 02 Jul 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1490

Abstract

Salinity in soil can affect Jatropha seedling metabolism, interfering with plant establishment. In this study, the effect of salinity on the mobilization of reserves during the development of Jatropha seedlings was tested. Two genotypes of Jatropha were used and three concentrations of NaCl were applied between the 4th and 8th days after germination. The effects of salinity on seedling growth, in terms of fresh and dry phytomass, ionic partition, and sugar quantification, starch, proteins, amino acids, and lipids were evaluated in cotyledon leaves, hypocotyls, and roots. There was an increase in the content of all classes of macromolecules analyzed in at least one of the organs. It is hypothesized that the hypocotyls acted as an accumulating organ of Na⁺. The accumulations of amino acids and protein in roots suggest that metabolic responses occurred in response to the ionic and osmotic effects of NaCl, although this accumulation did not appear to prevent biomass losses in seedlings. Furthermore, the findings of this study demonstrate that salinity inhibits the mobilization of lipids and carbon stocks from cotyledon leaves to the rest of the plant, and together with the synthesis of proteins and amino acids that occurred primarily in roots, contributed to response of these plants to salinity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Crops for Sustainable Agriculture)

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10 pages, 795 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Post-Anthesis Mobilization of Stem Assimilates in Wheat under Induced Stress

by Mian Faisal Nazir, Zareen Sarfraz, Naimatullah Mangi, Muhammad Kausar Nawaz Shah, Talat Mahmood, Tahir Mahmood, Muhammad Shahid Iqbal, Muhammad Ishaq Asif Rehmani, Mohamed El-Sharnouby, Mohamed Khamees Aly Shabaan, Sobhy Gharib Rizk Sorour and Ayman EL Sabagh

Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 5940; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13115940 - 25 May 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1915

Abstract

Stem reserves in grain crops are considered important in grain filling under post-anthesis stress in the absence/low availability of photosynthetic assimilates. Considerable variation is present among genotypes for stem reserve translocation in wheat. Therefore, this study aimed to exploit the phenotypic variation for stem reserve translocation in wheat under control and chemically induced stress conditions. The phenotypic variation among six parents and their corresponding direct cross combinations was evaluated under induced stress conditions. The results signify the presence of considerable variation between treatments, genotypes, and treatment-genotype interactions. The parent LLR-20 depicted the highest translocation of dry matter and contribution of post-anthesis assimilates under induced-stress conditions. Similarly, cross combinations Nacozari × LLR22, Nacozari × LLR 20, Nacozari × Parula, Nacozari × LLR 21, LLR 22 × LLR 21, and LLR 20 × LLR 21 showed higher source-sink accumulation under induced-stress conditions. The selected parents and cross combinations can be further utilized in the breeding program to strengthen the genetic basis for stress tolerance in wheat. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Crops for Sustainable Agriculture)

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23 pages, 3221 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Physio-Morphological and Biochemical Trait-Based Evaluation of Ethiopian and Chinese Wheat Germplasm for Drought Tolerance at the Seedling Stage

by Gizie Abeje Belay, Zhengbin Zhang and Ping Xu

Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4605; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13094605 - 21 Apr 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3351

Abstract

For Ethiopia’s wheat production, drought is a major natural disaster. Exploration of drought-resistant varieties from a bulk of wheat germplasm conserved in the gene bank is of paramount importance for breeding climate change-resilient modern cultivars. The present study was aimed at identifying the best performing drought-resistant genotypes under non-stress and polyethylene glycol simulated (PEG) stress conditions in a growth chamber. Forty diverse Ethiopian bread and durum wheat cultivars along with three Chinese bread wheat cultivars possessing strong drought resistance and susceptibility were evaluated. After acclimation with the natural environment, the seedlings were imposed to severe drought stress (20% PEG₆₀₀₀), and 15 seedling traits including photosynthetic and free proline were investigated. Our findings indicated that drought stress caused a profound decline in plant water consumption (83.0%), shoot fresh weight (64.9%), stomatal conductance (61.6%), root dry weight (55.2%), and other investigated traits except root to shoot length ratio and proline content which showed a significant increase under drought stress. A significant and positive correlation was found between photosynthetic pigments in both growth conditions. Proline exhibited a negative correlation with most of the investigated traits except root to shoot length ratio and all photosynthetic pigments which showed a positive and non-significant association. Our result also showed a wide range of genetic variation (CV) ranging from 3.23% to 47.3%; the highest in shoot dry weight (SDW) (47.3%) followed by proline content (44.63%) and root dry weight (36.03%). Based on multivariate principal component biplot analysis and average sum of ranks (ASR), G12, G16 and G25 were identified as the best drought tolerant and G6, G42, G4, G11, and G9 as bottom five sensitive. The potential of these genotypes offers further investigation at a molecular and cellular level to identify the novel gene associated with the stress response. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Crops for Sustainable Agriculture)

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Review

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20 pages, 678 KiB

Open AccessReview

Elucidating the Drought Responsiveness in Wheat Genotypes

by Ankita Pandey, Rinki Khobra, Harohalli Masthigowda Mamrutha, Zeenat Wadhwa, Gopalareddy Krishnappa, Gyanendra Singh and Gyanendra Pratap Singh

Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 3957; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14073957 - 27 Mar 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3120

Abstract

Drought is one of the major abiotic constraints on wheat yields and also for sustainability of production levels around the world. In the near future, the occurrence likelihood of droughts is predicted to become more common, due to changing climatic conditions, thereby posing a serious threat to the food security system. Heterogeneity, in its time of occurrence and severity levels, is likely to further augment the complexity of drought conditions. Although wheat crop growth has progressively risen to good levels, as evident by notable increases in both area and production, the expected wheat demand for the ever-growing population is quite high. Besides crop yield volatility in the era of climate change and dwindling resources, “trait-based” breeding programs are required, so as to develop high yielding, climate resilient and stable genotypes, at a faster pace. For this to happen, a broad genetic base and wider adaptability to suit varied agro-ecologies would provide enough scope for their quicker spread. The current review places emphasis on making distinct categories of the wheat cultivars/advanced breeding lines, as tolerant, moderately tolerant or susceptible to drought stresses, duly supported by an extensive up-to-date literature base and will be useful for wheat researchers, in order to choose the best potential donors as parents, coupled with the associated traits for the development of drought-tolerant wheat varieties, and also to facilitate molecular studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Crops for Sustainable Agriculture)

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22 pages, 2565 KiB

Open AccessReview

Tailoring Next Generation Plant Growth Promoting Microorganisms as Versatile Tools beyond Soil Desalinization: A Road Map towards Field Application

by Hafsa Cherif-Silini, Allaoua Silini, Ali Chenari Bouket, Faizah N. Alenezi, Lenka Luptakova, Nawel Bouremani, Justyna Anna Nowakowska, Tomasz Oszako and Lassaad Belbahri

Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4422; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13084422 - 15 Apr 2021

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3402

Abstract

Plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) have been the target of intensive research studies toward their efficient use in the field as biofertilizers, biocontrol, and bioremediation agents among numerous other applications. Recent trends in the field of PGPB research led to the development of versatile multifaceted PGPB that can be used in different field conditions such as biocontrol of plant pathogens in metal contaminated soils. Unfortunately, all these research efforts lead to the development of PGPB that failed to perform in salty environments. Therefore, it is urgently needed to address this drawback of these PGPB toward their efficient performance in salinity context. In this paper we provide a review of state-of-the-art research in the field of PGPB and propose a road map for the development of next generation versatile and multifaceted PGPB that can perform in salinity. Beyond soil desalinization, our study paves the way towards the development of PGPB able to provide services in diverse salty environments such as heavy metal contaminated, or pathogen threatened. Smart development of salinity adapted next generation biofertilizers will inevitably allow for mitigation and alleviation of biotic and abiotic threats to plant productivity in salty environments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Crops for Sustainable Agriculture)

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13 pages, 7607 KiB

Open AccessReview

ROS Homeostasis and Plant Salt Tolerance: Plant Nanobiotechnology Updates

by Jiahao Liu, Chengcheng Fu, Guangjing Li, Mohammad Nauman Khan and Honghong Wu

Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3552; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13063552 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 66 | Viewed by 5000

Abstract

Salinity is an issue impairing crop production across the globe. Under salinity stress, besides the osmotic stress and Na⁺ toxicity, ROS (reactive oxygen species) overaccumulation is a secondary stress which further impairs plant performance. Chloroplasts, mitochondria, the apoplast, and peroxisomes are the main ROS generation sites in salt-stressed plants. In this review, we summarize ROS generation, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant systems in salt-stressed plants, and the potential for plant biotechnology to maintain ROS homeostasis. Overall, this review summarizes the current understanding of ROS homeostasis of salt-stressed plants and highlights potential applications of plant nanobiotechnology to enhance plant tolerance to stresses. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Crops for Sustainable Agriculture)

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