Salinity stress in plants and enhancing tomato tolerance: Insights from chemical and bio‐organic fertilization, priming, and breeding approaches

Abstract Nearly 1 billion ha of soils affected by salinization have been identified worldwide (8.7% of the planet's soils). These soils are mainly found in naturally arid or semi‐arid environments. The map also shows that 20%–50% of irrigated soils across all continents are too saline. Thus, soil salinity is one of the most critical threats to food security. It adversely affects the growth and productivity of agricultural crops. Tomato is the most important horticultural plant and an essential annual crop for human food worldwide. The effects of salinity on tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) plants have been studied in recent years by several researchers. Attempts to improve tomato salinity tolerance through conventional breeding programs have had limited success due to the complexity of the trait. Thus, various cultural techniques, in addition to varietal selection, are applied to mitigate the harmful effects of salinity, such as seed pretreatments through priming methods, chemical fertilizers, and organic amendments like the use of beneficial soil microorganisms, including plant growth‐promoting rhizobacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. This review paper provided valuable information on the behavior of tomato cultivars under saline conditions. The review also provides a synthetic overview of current and relevant scientific advances allowing the improvement of salinity tolerance of tomato plants. However, natural seed or soil treatments to combat salinization have not been widely developed. Nevertheless, the strategies developed in this review, combined with recent advances in emerging biotechnological solutions, could allow mitigating the effects of salinity on tomato plants.