Application of In Vitro Plant Tissue Culture Techniques to Halophyte Species: A Review

Abstract

Halophytes are plants able to thrive in environments characterized by severe abiotic conditions, including high salinity and high light intensity, drought/flooding, and temperature fluctuations. Several species have ethnomedicinal uses, and some are currently explored as sources of food and cosmetic ingredients. Halophytes are considered important alternative cash crops to be used in sustainable saline production systems, due to their ability to grow in saline conditions where conventional glycophyte crops cannot, such as salt-affected soils and saline irrigation water. In vitro plant tissue culture (PTC) techniques have greatly contributed to industry and agriculture in the last century by exploiting the economic potential of several commercial crop plants. The application of PTC to selected halophyte species can thus contribute for developing innovative production systems and obtaining halophyte-based bioactive products. This work aimed to put together and review for the first time the most relevant information on the application of PTC to halophytes. Several protocols were established for the micropropagation of different species. Various explant types have been used as starting materials (e.g., basal shoots and nodes, cotyledons, epicotyls, inflorescence, internodal segments, leaves, roots, rhizomes, stems, shoot tips, or zygotic embryos), involving different micropropagation techniques (e.g., node culture, direct or indirect shoot neoformation, caulogenesis, somatic embryogenesis, rooting, acclimatization, germplasm conservation and cryopreservation, and callogenesis and cell suspension cultures). In vitro systems were also used to study physiological, biochemical, and molecular processes in halophytes, such as functional and salt-tolerance studies. Thus, the application of PTC to halophytes may be used to improve their controlled multiplication and the selection of desired traits for the in vitro production of plants enriched in nutritional and functional components, as well as for the study of their resistance to salt stress.

Comparative metabolomic analysis between tomato and halophyte plants under intercropping conditions

“…Halophytes are considered a valuable tool for soil phytoremediation in arid and semi‐arid regions, contributing to food security and diversification (Ahmadi et al, 2022; Custódio et al, 2023). Moreover, taking into account that halophytes are the source of commercial products of interest, with multiple applications in food, animal feeding, and pharma and cosmetic industries, they can be considered as a value‐added crop (Custódio et al, 2023; Simpson et al, 2018).…”

“…In this sense, the introduction of halophytes in agriculture may help develop sustainable and profitable farming practices.Halophytes are considered a valuable tool for soil phytoremediation in arid and semi-arid regions, contributing to food security and diversification (Ahmadi et al, 2022;Cust odio et al, 2023). Moreover, taking into account that halophytes are the source of commercial products of interest, with multiple applications in food, animal feeding, and pharma and cosmetic industries, they can be considered as a value-added crop (Cust odio et al, 2023;Simpson et al, 2018).The intercropping of cash crops and halophytes may constitute a valuable approach for stress mitigation in salt-affected areas since halophytes can effectively remove salts from the environment, enhancing crop production (Simpson et al, 2018). In this sense, tomato plants increased fruit yield under soil and water salinity conditions when intercropping was established with several halophyte species (Zuccarini, 2008).…”