Olive Response to Salinity: A Comprehensive Review to Causes, Mechanisms, and Management

Water is the most limiting resource in the Mediterranean region. Fresh water availability is one of the major restraints for agricultural development worldwide. So, the usage and adoption of poor‐quality water, including salty water and wastewater is becoming an important issue in sustainable horticulture. Olives have been considered moderately tolerant to salinity stress. The growth and yield response is genotype and salt type–dependent. Salt adaptation in olive genotypes is highly associated with satisfactory ion exclusion mechanisms in addition to retaining chloride and sodium ions in the root zone. Chloride toxicity appears to be a main cause of the reduction in olive growth. The current review offers insight into the effects, varietal variation, ion homeostasis, and tolerance responses of olive to salinity stress as well as explores the possible mechanisms of adaptation. Understanding olive’s response to salt stress, adaptation mechanisms, and surveying management choices may help to formulate strategies for improved tolerance of trees grown under osmotic stress environments. Better recognition of the different adaptation mechanisms could be utilized to breed olive genotypes with enhanced productivity performance under saline environments. The capability for improving the salt adaptation of olives grown in saline media is discussed.