APPROACHES TO STUDY BIODIVERSITY AND SALINITY TOLERANCE MECHANISMS IN MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT TREE SPECIES

Changes in global climate are going to increase the problem of drought and soil salinity in the Mediterranean area, where increases in temperature, drought and soil and water salinity are expected. Identification of plant genotypes with positive agronomic traits, such as salt tolerance, may reduce the effects of salinity and drought on productivity. Therefore, there is considerable effort being directed toward the development of salt-tolerant genotypes through plant breeding, with the aim to the introgression of salt-tolerance traits into new cultivars. The results presented in this thesis contributed to the develop of new tools to improve knowledge on the biodiversity and salinity toleranc…