Importance and utilization of plant-beneficial rhizobacteria in agriculture

Abstract

Due to the use of a large amount of chemical fertilizers, continuous loss of soil fertility puts pressure on farmers toward more crop production in a sustainable manner. This problem creates a big challenge for farmers to fulfill the demand for the next generation. If an adequate amount of fertilizers is not supplied to crops, it raises major issue related to global food production and food security. Therefore, it requires adapting an eco-friendly, sustainable, and cost-effective approach for agricultural practices without arising environmental issues. Several natural rhizobacteria inhabiting the rhizospheric soil exist, which are used for plant growth promotion. They have tremendous capacity to provide directly or indirectly nutrient availability to the plants, stimulate plant hormones, and secrete certain compounds that help in the association of several other beneficial microbes with plant roots. In addition to restoring soil fertility, they have the capability to protect plants against soil-borne pathogens, thereby promoting plant growth. Further, application of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria reduces the utilization of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and other artificial growth regulators that cause severe health and environmental issues, soil infertility, water pollution, and biodiversity losses. In this context, sustainable use of rhizobacteria has been suggested to be an eco-friendly and cost-effective approach which increases crop yields and directly or indirectly protects plant from soil-borne pathogens for a long time.