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Role of Beneficial Trace Elements in Salt Stress Tolerance of Plants

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Plant Nutrients and Abiotic Stress Tolerance

Abstract

A large proportion of the global cultivable land is inflicted with salt stress. Plants, especially crop species, are usually sensitive to high saline conditions. As a result, crops grown in saline areas succumb to premature wilting, leading to large-scale yield losses. Hence, there is an urgent requirement of an economic and easy technology to sustain crop development even in suboptimal conditions. Trace elements are micronutrients which are beneficial for plant growth and physiology at very low concentrations. Existing reports suggest that exogenous application of some of these trace elements ameliorates salt sensitivity in a species- and cultivar-dependent manner. Optimum concentrations of such micronutrients act as supplements for the system. Trace elements promote plant growth, photosynthetic efficiency, and water usage during salinity. The accumulation of the compatible solutes and the nonenzymatic components of the antioxidant machinery are triggered. The activities of the enzymes belonging to the antioxidant system are also enhanced in the presence of exogenous trace elements. Increased accumulation of toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) is counteracted through their effective scavenging by means of several antioxidants. Some trace elements also stabilize the cell wall and promote systemic integrity under salt stress. This chapter exclusively discusses the beneficial effects of essential and quasi-essential trace elements like magnesium, zinc, iron, selenium, silicon, boron, and iodine in conferring plant tolerance against salt stress.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Aditya Banerjee & Aryadeep Roychoudhury

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  1. Aditya Banerjee
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  2. Aryadeep Roychoudhury
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Mirza Hasanuzzaman

  2. Department of Applied Biological Science, Kagawa University, Miki-cho, Kita-gun, Kagawa, Japan

    Masayuki Fujita

  3. Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa, Japan

    Hirosuke Oku

  4. Department of Agricultural Botany, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Kamrun Nahar

  5. Department of Plant Physiology, University of Life Sciences, Lublin, Poland

    Barbara Hawrylak-Nowak

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Banerjee, A., Roychoudhury, A. (2018). Role of Beneficial Trace Elements in Salt Stress Tolerance of Plants. In: Hasanuzzaman, M., Fujita, M., Oku, H., Nahar, K., Hawrylak-Nowak, B. (eds) Plant Nutrients and Abiotic Stress Tolerance. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-9044-8_16

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