Nanoparticles Mediated Salt Stress Resilience: A Holistic Exploration of Physiological, Biochemical, and Nano-omics Approaches

High salinity presents a critical challenge in agriculture, leading to yearly crop losses. It affects crops by inducing both osmotic stresses, reducing water uptake, and ionic stress, causing harmful ion influx into the transpiration stream, leading to cellular damage. Salinity-induced stress results in the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), causing oxidative harm to cellular components and membranes and, in severe cases, plant and cell death. Plants defend against salt-induced oxidative damage by eliminating ROS and regulating ROS production through the antioxidant defense system. Recent studies have shown that various bioactive nanoparticles (NPs), with specific shapes, sizes, and concentrations, can effectively mitigate salt stress in various agricultural plants. These NPs also enhance growth parameters, seed germination, root morphology, productivity, and physio-biochemical composition. However, a significant knowledge gap exists regarding the molecular processes governing NP transport and plant absorption. To harness NPs for sustainable agriculture, gaining a comprehensive understanding of biological processes across multiple levels is essential. Furthermore, as the demand for detailed information on complex agricultural traits and crop responses to NP exposure increases, omics technologies have advanced in precision agriculture and nanotoxicity research. In this review article, we leverage significant advancements in multi-omics to introduce the "Nano-omics" approach for mitigating the effects of salt stress on plants and enhancing their productivity.