BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL STRATEGIES AGAINST SOIL AND WATER SALINIZATION I—RHIZOSPHERE

Abstract

The work presents an overlook over the main strategies to induce salt stress resistance in horticultural crops that have been developed during the last twenty years, ranging from more traditional agronomical techniques to the more modern ones involving microbiology and molecular biology. These strategies are presented as divided into two main groups: the ones acting on the rhizospheric environment surrounding the plant, presented here, and the ones aiming to provide the plant with actual resistance to salt stress that are the object of a successive work. Consociation with halophytic plants emerges for its promising results and for the lack of a wide number of researches performed, justifying the need to provide deeper insight, particularly with regard to the optimal species, and densities and times of sowing to be used. On the other hand, mycorrhizal infection is a more consolidated practice that is known for its efficacy, but there are still interesting developments to be investigated in the field of its possible interactions with other microorganisms or with additional agronomical treatments such as extra-fertilization. Less decisive solutions are represented by practices like the management of irrigation waters that can be worth the use only in cases of mild stress conditions or in combination with other strategies.

Keywords:

• salinity
• resistance
• crops
• rhizosphere