Microbe-mediated tolerance in plants against biotic and abiotic stresses

Abstract

Food production and food security for the globally growing population need to increase in sustainable agricultural system because the world population will reach nine billion by 2050. Over half of the population growth will occur in the developing world especially in the densely populated African and Asian countries. Additionally, several factors such as small land holding, agricultural labour costs and environmental stresses are further significantly contributing towards chronic global hunger problem. Exploitation of plant microbiome has a huge potential in alleviating negative impact of global changes on plant productivity by promoting plant health, tackling abiotic stresses, enhancing nutrient acquisition and developing an integrated, low-input sustainable agriculture system. As a matter of fact, agriculture with enhanced productivity would depend on understanding the plant-microbe interaction mechanisms and utilization of microbes to completely exploit the biotechnological potential of natural partnership in most of the crop plants. However, synthesis and development of microbe consortia for sustainable crop productivity under stresses would represent one of the promising areas of research in the future because high competition with native soil often renders single microbial strains ineffective in promoting plant growth and stress tolerance. The future challenge in plant-associated microbiome research is tackled by designing novel microbiome-driven approaches like assemblage and engineering of microbiome with specific, sustained beneficial effects for exploiting the microbiome in sustainable agriculture. Successful deployment of microbiome engineering efforts will open up new horizons for investing on improving microbiome for reducing negative impact of climate deterioration on plant productivity. This article provides an overview of effective designing and utilization of the plant-based microbiome, an integrated approach in future agriculture to address food security by effectively handling environmental challenges.