Pomegranate and Salt Stress Responses—Assimilation Activities and Chlorophyll Fluorescence Performances: A Review

Abstract

Soil and/or water salinity are a serious problem in arid zones, affecting plants in parallel to extreme temperatures and water deficit. These conditions intensify other stresses including pests, diseases, nutrient imbalances or toxicity, unsuitable soil conditions and poor texture, low microorganism activity, sodicity, bicarbonate content and high pH in soil and water and thus, interfere plant growth and development. Therefore, it is important to find better genetics to cope with harsh environments, and pomegranate trees are not an exception. As pomegranates are planted in harsh environments, evaluating pomegranate varieties under salt stresses might be helpful to find beneficial techniques to improve fruit yield and quality and also to guarantee human health. The aim of this review is to introduce new insights for evaluating pomegranate varieties tolerant to salt stress.