To feed the nearly 10 billion people by the year 2050, agricultural activities and yield must be enhanced substantially, maintaining soil health and overpowering the expected adverse effects of climate change. High soil salinity is one of the major concerns in future farming, as salinity is a prominent abiotic stress that significantly impacts plants inhabiting arid and semiarid environments worldwide. The increasing levels of soil salinity are proving detrimental to agriculture, the general productivity of the ecosystem, and the economy at large. Excessive salt accumulation in plants leads to an osmotic imbalance, resulting in a decrease in photosynthesis, formation of reactive oxygen species, DNA damage, hormonal instability, and decreased water and mineral uptake. To mitigate the adverse impacts of salt stress, along with diverse physiological mechanisms, plants have developed symbiotic associations with endophytic microorganisms that reside within the plant tissues and help the plants in many ways. Endophytes have been found to alleviate the effects of salinity stress by diverse mechanisms-synthesis of osmolytes, and antioxidant enzymes such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase; synthesis and modulation of phytohormones such as ethylene, indole-3-acetic acid, gibberellin, abscisic acid, etc.; promotion of siderophore production and exopolysaccharide formation; carrying out nitrogen fixation, and increasing phosphate solubilization. In this review, the effects of salinity stress on plants, and the mechanisms by which endophytic microorganisms help the plants to withstand such stress are discussed at length. The application of tailored endophytic microbial consortia holds the key to future food security through sustainable agriculture.

来源平台：PHYTOCHEMISTRY REVIEWS