Plants growing under salinity stress can be eased through mycorrhizal association

Abstract

Environmental stresses like drought, extreme cold or heat, high wind, pH, salt, toxic compound, and infection by insects or parasites are largely affecting living organisms on earth. Soil salinity is one of the world’s major environmental problems in agriculture. The major cause of salinity is through natural process or human-induced progressions, resulting in the accumulation of dissolved salts in the soil water which affects plant growth. Therefore soil salinity coupled with land deprivation is the most alarming ecological problem. Salinity reduces the net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and relative water content, and these dreading effects can be diluted by mycorrhizal association. Among the biological strategies to improve plant growth under saline conditions, the most credited and valued role comes from arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Arbuscular mycorrhiza is a symbiotic relationship between fungi and plants and plays a pivotal role in nutrient cycling and stress tolerance. Under saline conditions, mycorrhizal association significantly relieves the salt stress by improving physio-biochemical features that could be primarily attributed to net increase in photosynthetic efficiency, enhanced nutrient acquisition, root hydraulic conductivity, and stabilization of osmotic balance. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is to explore the mechanism by which mycorrhiza is making plant less stressed under saline conditions.