Effects of Salt Stress on Crop Production—2nd Edition

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Production".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2026 | Viewed by 1151

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. Joint International Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-Product Safety of Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
2. College for Overseas Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
Interests: salt stress; morphology; physiology; mechanism; molecular biology; cereal and cash crops; energy crops; carbon fixation and neutralization
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil salinization is one of the major abiotic stresses limiting crop production worldwide. Under salt stress, crop plants cannot develop a reasonable root system to effectively absorb water and nutrients from the soils, causing damage to cells, organs, and tissues as well as slow metabolism and growth inhibition, leading to reduced crop yields and quality. Under severe salt-stress conditions, crop plants cannot achieve a good establishment and reasonable productivity. A deeper and more comprehensive understanding of how crops respond to salt stress and the underlying salt tolerance mechanisms is of crucial importance to breed salt-tolerant crop varieties and develop salt-tolerant production practices.

This Special Issue is a natural continuation of the previous Special Issue: “Effects of Salt Stress on Crop Production”. This Special Issue focuses on the breeding strategies and techniques of salt-tolerant varieties, the management of salt-tolerant production practices, and their effects and mechanisms on the morphology, physiology, and yield performance of crops under salt-stress conditions. For this Special Issue, original research manuscripts, short communications, and reviews are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Guisheng Zhou
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • salt stress
  • breeding of salt-tolerant varieties
  • morphology and physiology
  • plant hormones
  • nutrients absorption and utilization
  • foreign amendment
  • growth and development
  • yield
  • quality

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 13383 KB  
Article
Differential Responses of Two Sorghum Genotypes to Drought Stress at Seedling Stage Revealed by Integrated Physiological and Transcriptional Analysis
by Manhong Wang, Irshad Ahmad, Muhi Eldeen Hussien Ibrahim, Bin Qin, Hailu Zhu, Guanglong Zhu and Guisheng Zhou
Agriculture 2025, 15(16), 1780; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15161780 - 20 Aug 2025
Viewed by 589
Abstract
Drought stress significantly limits crop growth and yield, and the mechanisms underlying genotypic variation in drought tolerance remain unclear. This study investigated the growth and transcriptomic responses of two sorghum varieties, drought-sensitive Jinza 35 (V1) and drought-tolerant Longza 24 (V2), under drought conditions. [...] Read more.
Drought stress significantly limits crop growth and yield, and the mechanisms underlying genotypic variation in drought tolerance remain unclear. This study investigated the growth and transcriptomic responses of two sorghum varieties, drought-sensitive Jinza 35 (V1) and drought-tolerant Longza 24 (V2), under drought conditions. Comparative transcriptomic analysis, along with Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses, revealed distinct molecular mechanisms between the two varieties. Both varieties exhibited drought-responsive changes in photosynthesis-related pathways. However, the drought-tolerant V2 showed significant enrichment in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, starch-sucrose metabolism, and plant hormone signaling pathways, suggesting enhanced metabolic flexibility under stress. In contrast, V1 primarily activated ribosome metabolism and cell cycle regulation pathways, indicating a less adaptive response focused on basic cellular processes. These findings highlight key metabolic and regulatory differences underlying drought tolerance in sorghum. The study provides valuable molecular insights and candidate pathways for future functional studies and the breeding of drought-resistant sorghum varieties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Salt Stress on Crop Production—2nd Edition)
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