PLANTS UNDER EFFECT OF SALINITY

Abstract

Plants under salt stress can occasionally tolerate alterations in the environmental conditions. Salt tolerance in these organisms is determined by multiple biological traits that will determine their water retention and/or acquisition capacity in safeguarding photosynthetic functions and ionic homeostasis. Understanding the pathways of synthesis of osmotically active metabolites is needed, as well as those of relevant amino acids and free radicals that control the flow of ions and water. The ability of plants of eliminating osmotically active free radicals under salinity stress must cost them much energy. Many species of plants that are tolerant to high salinity conditions accumulate certain metabolites that work as osmoprotectants. The synthesis of these compounds may be directly related with the stress generated by high salinity conditions. The main goal of the present review was to illustrate the response of plants to salt stress, while focusing on physiological and biochemical aspects of this stress. Although there is much available information on the complexity of salt stress tolerance, the choice of a specific parameter to measuring this stress in many species is still difficult. In this context, the present review can aid future studies in evaluating the ecological importance of salt stress.