The key roles of salicylic acid and sulfur in plant salinity stress tolerance

The salinization of agriculture soils over the globe has become one of the most devastating stresses and is significantly limiting cultivated land area, and crop productivity and quality. It is very imperative to explore both salinity tolerance in plants and insights into approaches (and underlying mechanisms) for effectively controlling salinity impacts. To this end, the role of phytohormone salicylic acid (SA) and plant nutrient sulfur (S) in promoting salinity tolerance has been researched in isolated studies, and SA-S interaction results have been little discussed. Given this, taking into account recent literature on SA, S and soil salinity, this paper aimed to (i) overview of the major impacts of soil salinity on plant health; (ii) highlight the significance of SA and S in improving plant salinity tolerance; (iii) discuss the role and underlying mechanism of SA, S and their interaction in the modulation of plant growth and development under salinity stress; and also to (iv) appraise the discussed literature and enlighten the major prospects.

Automated summary

Soil salinization is a major threat to agriculture globally, reducing cultivated land area and crop productivity. Studies have shown the importance of salicylic acid and sulfur in enhancing plant salinity tolerance, but their interaction has been less explored.