Salinity Stress in Rice: Multilayered Approaches for Sustainable Tolerance

Salt accumulation in arable lands causes significant abiotic stress, resulting in a 10% loss in global arable land area and jeopardizing food production and agricultural sustainability. In order to attain high and sustainable food production, it is imperative to enhance traditional agricultural practices with modern technology to enable the restoration of arable lands afflicted by salinity. This review consolidates recent rice-specific advancements aimed at enhancing salt stress resilience through integrated strategies. We explore the functions of primary and secondary metabolic pathways, organic amendments, microbial symbiosis, and plant growth regulators in reducing the negative impacts of salt. Furthermore, we highlight the significance of emerging genetic and epigenetic technologies, including gene editing and transcriptional regulation, in developing salt-tolerant rice cultivars. Physiological studies reveal salt stress responses in rice plants, biochemical analyses identify stress-related metabolites, microbial investigations uncover beneficial plant-microbe interactions, and molecular approaches enable the identification of key genes-together providing essential insights for developing salt-tolerant rice varieties. We present a comprehensive overview of the multilayered strategies-ranging from agronomic management and physiological adaptations to molecular breeding and microbial applications-that have been developed and refined over recent decades. These approaches have significantly contributed to understanding and improving salinity tolerance mechanisms in rice. This review provides a foundational framework for future research and practical implementation in stress-resilient rice farming systems.