Management of Phosphorus in Salinity-Stressed Agriculture for Sustainable Crop Production by Salt-Tolerant Phosphate-Solubilizing Bacteria—A Review

Abstract

Among the environmental factors, soil salinity is one of the most detrimental factors affecting plant growth and productivity. Nutritional-imbalance is also known as one of the negative effects of salinity on plant growth and productivity. Among the essential plant nutrients, phosphorus (P) is a nutrient in which the uptake, transport, and distribution in plant is adversely affected by salinity-stress. Salinity-stress-mediated low a P availability limits the crop production. Adding additional P fertilizer is generally recommended to manage P deficit in saline-soils; however, the low-efficiency of available P fertilizer use in salt-affected soils, restricts P availability, and P fertilizers are also a cause of significant environmental concerns. The application of salinity-tolerant phosphate–solubilizing-bacteria (ST-PSB) can be as a greatly effective and economical way to improve the P availability, and recover the P-deficit in saline-land. This review focuses on soil salinization and its effect on P availability, the mechanisms of P solubilization by ST-PSB, ST-PSB diversity, their role in alleviating salinity stress in plants, the current and future scenarios of their use, and the potential application of this knowledge to manage the sustainable environmental system. According to this review, adding ST-PSB to saline soils could be an alternative for alleviating the negative effects of salinity on plants and may ameliorate salinity tolerance.