Nitrogen assimilation and photorespiration become more efficient under chloride nutrition as a beneficial macronutrient.

Chloride (Cl) and nitrate ( ) are closely related anions involved in plant growth. Their similar physical and chemical properties make them to interact in cellular processes like electrical balance and osmoregulation. Since both anions share transport mechanisms, Cl has been considered to antagonize uptake and accumulation in plants.

Chloride nutrition improves drought resistance by enhancing water deficit avoidance and tolerance mechanisms.

Chloride (Cl-), traditionally considered harmful for agriculture, has recently been defined as a beneficial macronutrient with specific roles that result in more efficient use of water (WUE), nitrogen (NUE), and CO2 in well-watered plants. When supplied in a beneficial range of 1-5 mM, Cl- increases leaf cell size, improves leaf osmoregulation, and reduces water consumption without impairing photosynthetic efficiency, resulting in overall higher WUE. Thus, adequate management of Cl- nutrition arises as a potential strategy to increase the ability of plants to withstand water deficit.

SILVOLIVE, a Germplasm Collection of Wild Subspecies With High Genetic Variability as a Source of Rootstocks and Resistance Genes for Olive Breeding.

Wild subspecies of constitute a source of genetic variability with huge potential for olive breeding to face global changes in Mediterranean-climate regions. We intend to identify wild olive genotypes with optimal adaptability to different environmental conditions to serve as a source of rootstocks and resistance genes for olive breeding. The SILVOLIVE collection includes 146 wild genotypes representative of the six subspecies and early-generations hybrids.

Chloride Improves Nitrate Utilization and NUE in Plants.

Chloride (Cl) has traditionally been considered harmful to agriculture because of its toxic effects in saline soils and its antagonistic interaction with nitrate (NO ), which impairs NO nutrition. It has been largely believed that Cl antagonizes NO uptake and accumulation in higher plants, reducing crop yield. However, we have recently uncovered that Cl has new beneficial macronutrient, functions that improve plant growth, tissue water balance, plant water relations, photosynthetic performance, and water-use efficiency.

Chloride as a Beneficial Macronutrient in Higher Plants: New Roles and Regulation.

Chloride (Cl) has traditionally been considered a micronutrient largely excluded by plants due to its ubiquity and abundance in nature, its antagonism with nitrate (NO), and its toxicity when accumulated at high concentrations. In recent years, there has been a paradigm shift in this regard since Cl has gone from being considered a harmful ion, accidentally absorbed through NO transporters, to being considered a beneficial macronutrient whose transport is finely regulated by plants. As a beneficial macronutrient, Cl determines increased fresh and dry biomass, greater leaf expansion, increased elongation of leaf and root cells, improved water relations, higher mesophyll diffusion to CO, and better water- and nitrogen-use efficiency.

Chloride as a macronutrient increases water-use efficiency by anatomically driven reduced stomatal conductance and increased mesophyll diffusion to CO.

Chloride (Cl ) has been recently described as a beneficial macronutrient, playing specific roles in promoting plant growth and water-use efficiency (WUE). However, it is still unclear how Cl could be beneficial, especially in comparison with nitrate (NO ), an essential source of nitrogen that shares with Cl similar physical and osmotic properties, as well as common transport mechanisms. In tobacco plants, macronutrient levels of Cl specifically reduce stomatal conductance (g ) without a concomitant reduction in the net photosynthesis rate (A ).

Chloride regulates leaf cell size and water relations in tobacco plants.

Chloride (Cl(-)) is a micronutrient that accumulates to macronutrient levels since it is normally available in nature and actively taken up by higher plants. Besides a role as an unspecific cell osmoticum, no clear biological roles have been explicitly associated with Cl(-) when accumulated to macronutrient concentrations. To address this question, the glycophyte tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.