Halophytes, Neglected and Underutilized Crops Species That Can Withstand Soil and Environmental Changes: Current Understanding and Recent Advances

Dear Colleagues,

Food systems are under intense pressure from climate change, which highlights the need for stable crops and varieties that can withstand soil and environmental changes.

Studies of the formation and functioning of the carbon concentration mechanism (CCM) in intermediate C3-C4 species inhabiting warm climates are of great interest and relevance. The evolutionary progress from C3 to C4 photosynthesis contains four separate types: proto-Kranz–C2 (Type I and II)–C4-like photosynthesis, in a series in which there is an increase in C4 features. C2 metabolism provides plants with several advantages over C3 species, such as a broad ecological niche, habitats in semi-arid or arid areas, improved net carbon assimilation (due to CCM), and stress resistance. C2 photosynthesis, therefore, offers an excellent opportunity to improve food security by significantly increasing crop productivity in extreme climates.

In changing climates, studies of the effect of an elevated CO₂ concentration (eCO₂) on the salt, drought and heat tolerance of plants are relevant. It has been shown that eCO₂ can mitigate the adverse effects of salinity on apparent photosynthesis and water metabolism in C3 glycophytes, and C3 and C4 halophytes.

Soil salinization significantly reduces the grain quality of crops by resulting in a series of metabolic disturbances due to ionic toxicity, thus affecting functional properties. C3-C4 Na⁺ uptake and transport in halophytes (salt-loving species), neglected and underutilized crops (NUCs) play an essential role in the salinity tolerance to abiotic stresses to ensure food security in drylands with hyper-arid climate regions. Seed viability is also dependent on the capacity of Na⁺ exclusion. Extremely saline conditions can cause ion toxicity because of Na⁺ and Cl⁻ buildup. Plants have developed complex defenses to resist salt stress that rely on a variety of mechanisms, such as osmolyte biosynthesis, alterations in ion homeostasis, intracellular compartmentalization of toxic ions, and ROS and MG scavenging systems. Enhanced antioxidative and glyoxalase defense systems are the key mechanisms that plants use to adapt to adverse environments, including salt stress. Changes in the amount and the activities of antioxidant enzymes in response to salinity were found to differ between salt sensitive and tolerant cultivars of various crop plants.

The specific research areas for halophytes and NUC include: (i) plant response function to stresses; (ii) nutritious ingredient analysis (protein, vitamin, carbohydrates, lipids, fiber and bioactive metabolites); and (iii) soil science and plant nutrition (biological nitrification inhibition, soil microbe profiling, nitrogen/fertilizer metabolisms, soil–plant physiochemistry etc.) on one hand and plant science (physiology, molecular biology, genetics, genomics and environmental breeding; neo-domestication aspects of NUC) on the other. Circular halophytic mixed farming (CHMF) (including fundamental research on phytoremediation and allelopathic effects of halophytes and glycophytes) is considered a powerful option in the restoration of agrolandscapes prone to salinization and drought. 

Prof. Dr. Kristina Toderich
Dr. Imrul Mosaddek Ahmed
Dr. Hamid El Bilali
Prof. Dr. Oscar Vicente
Guest Editors

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• crop production
• abiotic stress
• ion translocation mechanism
• drought
• saline agriculture
• plant nutrition
• halophytes
• neglected underutilized crops
• food security
• drylands
• carbon concentration mechanism (CCM)
• oxidative stress
• elevated CO₂ concentration