The management of soil quality and plant productivity in stressed environment with rhizobacteria

Abstract

Crop cultivation in saline soils is one of the major agricultural challenges worldwide. Such soils are often poor in organic matter content and have a low level of microbes, many of which are potentially pathogenic. It requires appropriate biotechnology to introduce plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria for improving crop health, yield, and soil quality in arid saline soils. Introducing such bacterial strains to plant roots can lead to increased plant growth, usually due to enhancing the availability of minerals and nutrients, alleviating salt stress and suppressing plant pathogenic microorganisms. However, harsh conditions, including high salinity and droughts, may reduce the bacterial population introduced into the soil. In such conditions, screening and application of the enhanced potential root-colonizing rhizobacteria is essential for developing sound strategies to manage the rhizosphere in such a way that it becomes more difficult for pathogens to colonize the rhizosphere; thus, these beneficial bacteria can engineer positive interactions in the rhizosphere and stimulate plant growth under saline conditions. Based on these properties and on several tested plant-beneficial traits of the strains, the possible mechanisms behind the beneficial results are discussed.