Integrating Classical with Emerging Concepts for Better Understanding of Salinity Stress Tolerance Mechanisms in Rice

Rice is an important cereal crop responsible for world’s food security. The sensitivity of rice plants toward a range of abiotic stresses is a prime challenge for its overall growth and productivity. Among these, salinity is a major stress which results in a significant loss of global rice yield annually. For finding straightforward and strict future solutions in order to assure the food security to growing world population, understanding of the various mechanisms responsible for salt stress tolerance in rice is of paramount importance. In classical studies, identification of salt tolerant cultivars and the genetic markers linked to salt tolerance and breeding approaches have been given emphasis. It further affirmed on the identification of various pathways regulating the complex process of salt stress adaptation. However, only limited success has been achieved in these approaches as salt tolerance is a complex process and is governed by multiple factors. Hence, for better understanding of salt tolerance mechanisms, a comprehensive approach involving physiological, biochemical and molecular studies is much warranted. Modern experimental and genetic resources have provided a momentum in this direction and have provided molecular insights into different salt stress responsive pathways at the signaling and regulatory level. The integrative knowledge of classical and modern research of the understanding of salt stress adaptive pathways can help the researchers for designing effective strategies to fight against salt stress. Hence, the present review is focused on the understanding of the salt stress tolerance mechanisms in rice through the consolidative knowledge of classical and modern concepts. It further highlights the emerging new trends of salt stress adaptive pathways in rice.