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Halotolerant Endophytic Fungi: Diversity, Host Plants, and Mechanisms in Plant Salt–Alkali Stress Alleviation

Summary

Over 1 billion hectares of farmland worldwide suffer from salt damage, drastically reducing crop yields. Special fungi called halotolerant endophytic fungi live inside plant tissues and help plants survive salty, alkaline soil conditions without harming them. These fungi work by balancing salt ions in plants, boosting their natural antioxidant defenses, and producing helpful compounds. Research shows they can increase crop yields by 15-40% in salt-affected fields, offering a natural and sustainable solution to one of agriculture’s biggest challenges.

Background

Salinization affects over 1.381 billion hectares globally, reducing crop yields by 30% or more. Halotolerant endophytic fungi (HEFs) represent a critical biological resource for mitigating plant salt-alkali stress through non-pathogenic symbiotic relationships with diverse host plants.

Objective

This comprehensive review analyzes 150 scientific publications to reveal HEFs’ multifaceted mechanisms of plant stress tolerance, their host range diversity across over 30 plant species, and their practical applications in saline-alkali soil agriculture.

Results

HEFs enhance plant resilience through ion homeostasis regulation, elevated antioxidant enzyme capacity, osmolyte production, and phytohormone modulation. Representative examples show sodium ion reduction (38-80%), increased photosynthetic rates (45%), elevated antioxidant enzyme activity, and yield increases of 15-40% in field trials across multiple crop species.

Conclusion

Halotolerant endophytic fungi demonstrate significant potential for mitigating plant salt-alkali stress through sophisticated physiological and molecular mechanisms. Despite promising laboratory and field validations, challenges remain in field colonization efficiency, host specificity, and microbiological interactions that require further investigation for large-scale agricultural implementation.
  • Published in:Plants (Basel),
  • Study Type:Review,
  • Source: PMID: 41012059, DOI: 10.3390/plants14182907
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