The Sustainable Use of Halophytes in Salt-Affected Land

State-of-the-Art and Next Steps in a Saltier World

authored by

Nadia Bazihizina, Jutta Papenbrock, Henrik Aronsson, Karim Ben Hamed, Özkan Elmaz, Zenepe Dafku, Luísa Custódio, Maria João Rodrigues, Giulia Atzori, Katarzyna Negacz

Abstract

Salinization is a major cause of soil degradation that affects several million hectares of agricultural land, threatening food security and the sustainability of agricultural systems worldwide. Nevertheless, despite the negative impact of salinity, salt-affected land also provides several important ecosystem services, from providing habitats and nurseries for numerous species to sustainable food production. This opinion paper, written in the framework of the EU COST Action CA22144 SUSTAIN on the sustainable use of salt-affected land, therefore, focuses on the potential of halophytes and saline agriculture to transform and restore key functions of these salt-affected and marginal lands. As the current knowledge on sustainable saline agriculture upscaling is fragmented, we highlight (i) the research gaps in halophyte and salinity research and (ii) the main barriers and potentials of saline agriculture for addressing food security and environmental sustainability in terms of population growth and climate change.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Botany

External Organisation(s)

University of Florence (UniFi)
University of Gothenburg
Center of Biotechnology of Borj Cedria (CBBC)
Mehmet Akif Ersoy University
Agricultural University of Tirana
Universidade do Algarve
National Reserach Council of Italy Florence Research Area
Vrije Universiteit

Type

Article

Journal

Plants

Volume

13

No. of pages

12

ISSN

2223-7747

Publication date

20.08.2024

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Ecology, Plant Science

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 2 - Zero Hunger, SDG 13 - Climate Action, SDG 15 - Life on Land

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13162322 (Access: Open)