
Gabrijel Ondrašek
University of Zagreb, Croatia
Salt stress in fruit growing
Gabrijel Ondrasek is a Full Professor with over 21 years of experience at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, where he has served as the head of the Department of Soil Amelioration for more than 10 years. Currently, he is the coordinator of the Master’s study in English – https://bit.ly/INTER-ENAGRO, and a member of several faculties’ councils, committees and boards. With a research focus on sustainable soil and water management in agroecosystems, salinization and metal contamination processes he has spent over 35 months at prestigious research and academic institutions in Australia, Europe, and Latin America. He has edited four scientific books and eight special issues of scientific journals, published 17 book chapters, and over 100 peer-reviewed articles.
Salt stress is a very common abiotic disorder in agroecosystems, particularly in fruit cultivation, and is expected to worsen due to ongoing climate changes. Salt-sensitive crops, including widely consumed fruits (citrus, strawberries, avocados etc.), suffer reduced yields and quality losses under these conditions. A variety of approaches are currently available to ameliorate salt stress, however, further studies are crucial to develop much more effective and sustainable solutions to help growers maintain productivity in the face of environmental degradation and climate change. |