Impact of endophytic fungi in biotic stress management

Abstract

Biotic stress is known to cause numerous harmful effects on agricultural harvests worldwide. Many biotic/living microbes, such as bacteria, fungi, virus, weeds, insects, nematodes, and pests, are responsible for causing biotic stress in several crops. When biotic stress crosses a specific value in crops, it causes lethal harm. Practices such as spraying, integrated pest management, and tiling are used for basic control of biotic stress when recognized at an early stage. At the very initial phase of infection, due to the small size of weeds, this makes it hard for crops to recognize. It is essential to develop new control strategies toward plant pathogens. Soil microorganisms play a vital role in plant growth productivity in a stressful environment. Fungal endophytes are the solution to overcome the tasks faced with conventional farming. These are environment friendly microbial commodities that colonize in plant tissues without causing any damage. Endophytes help in increasing the growth of plants. They also help in abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in host plants in addition to being used as biocontrol agents. They are able to diminish the injury triggered by pathogens via antibiosis, production of lytic enzymes, and hormone activation. Thus, this chapter highlights the fungal-mediated improvement in crops that are under pathogen attack.