The role of potassium under salinity stress in crop plants

Abstract

Being sessile in nature, plants have to confront a number of climatic changes such as salinity, drought, heavy metals, and temperature, all of which have damaging effects on plant growth and productivity, resulting in lower overall yields. Salinity is one of the significant abiotic stresses that has a detrimental effect on plant growth and yield. The salinity-affected region accounts for approximately 7% of the world's total land area. Although soil salinity occurs naturally, some other factors also contribute to its elevation, such as climate variation and irrigation practices. Potassium (K+) is the third most important macroelements as per the requirements of plants. It regulates several physiological and metabolic developments like photosynthesis, respiration enzyme instigation, stomata movement, osmoregulation, and provides resistance to abiotic stress. In the present mini-review, attempts have been made to summarize the old findings and recent advances in research regarding salinity toxicity and the role of K in their mitigation in plants. Currently, the climate is changing very fast due to global warming, and its impact on the regulatory role of K is not known. Therefore, future research should focus more on K’s regulatory roles in plants, which are facing tremendous challenges from the worse climate changes.