Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Defense in Plants Under Salinity

Soil salinity reduces the yield of crops at worldwide level. The most important processes of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production are respiration, photorespiration, and photosynthesis. This production is balanced under normal conditions but under adverse conditions like saline environments results in a disruption between production and scavenging of ROS. The main ROS comprise superoxide radical (O2 •−), hydroxyl radical (•OH), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and singlet oxygen (1O2) which a high capacity of cytotoxicity in plants. These ROS species are produced in different organelles at cellular level such as chloroplast, mitochondria, apoplast, and peroxisome under saline conditions. The main damages generated by the oxidative stress occur in biological molecules such as proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. In order to avoid the…