## 4 Discussion
Micronutrients, both in roots and upper plant part, were more or less unaffected (apart from B in the leaves and total plant mass), similar to the findings of [PERSON] et al. [55], [PERSON] and [PERSON] [56], and [PERSON] and [PERSON] [68] in various strawberry cultivars,indicating that salinity did not have a significant impact on the uptake and translocation of micronutrients in this plant. Alleviating treatments did not have any significant impact on leaf, root, and whole-plant nutrient content compared to Control. This possibly indicates that none of them was able to overcome the effects on salinity on plant nutrition and/or restrict Cl as well as Na uptake and translocation to the leaves. GB was not able to maintain a low Na/K and Na/Ca content in the leaves as reported by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [7] and [PERSON] et al. [38]. BETZ was also ineffective in decreasing the Na/K ratio and increasing Ca leaf content, unlike the cases reported by others [8; 18; 41]. Similarly, BA was ineffective in sustaining a better nutrient level than Control, even though the efficiency of rhizobacteria against salinity has been described in several species [52], but this is mainly dependent on bacterium strain, trial conditions, and plant species itself. Overall, it can be assumed that in the present trial alleviating products did not present any significant impact on plant nutrition. This may be attributed not only to the pre-mentioned factors but also to the increased EC determined in the soil. Soil EC in the present trial was probably too high, as it was similar to the highest [55], or higher than, reported by other authors [57], rendering the products ineffective in alleviating salinity effect on nutrient content reduction. High salt content adversely affects soil physical and chemical properties and the continuous increase of salinization on a global scale makes saline soils one of the most important categories of degraded soils with severe effects on crops. According to Figure 3a, the BETZ treatment has the same EC as the Blank treatment, indicating that the application of zeolite + bentonite mixture could alleviate the adverse effects of salinity by lowering the total salt concentration in soils. In accordance with our results, [PERSON] [70] reported that as natural zeolite was added to poultry litter compost, the electrical conductivity values decreased. [PERSON], et al. [71] observed that the application of natural zeolite in radish cultivation under saline conditions retained the harmful salts preventing their accumulation in the plant. Our results indicate that this mechanism works sufficiently for Cl, which is trapped by the zeolite + bentonite mixture as it enters into the cavities of those aluminosilicate minerals. The effect of BETZ treatment was more pronounced on soil-exchangeable K, which is characterized as excessive. It is well-known that zeolites have a stronger selectivity on K than Na, Ca, and Mg, hence the losses of K from the soil system are reduced by facilitating greater uptake of K by plant root hairs. Recently, [PERSON] et al. [72], using 20 g of clinoptilolite zeolite in a Typic Paleudult, found higher K adsorption with lower K desorption suggesting that the zeolite sorbs K effectively. Both zeolite and bentonite have been found to increase the micronutrient use efficiency, alleviating the imbalance in their uptake by plants induced by salinity. [PERSON], et al. [73] reported that five natural zeolites and bentonite minerals pose a high potential for Zn and Fe sorption, hence showing a high capacity for slow-release fertilizers. According to our study, the BETZ treatment resulted in significantly lower Zn, and Cu availability in soil as countermeasures to mitigate the salinization impact on plant micronutrients in strawberry leaves. Numerous studies have suggested that plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can be used as biofertilizers inducing tolerance against salt stress [74].