Abstrakt
Plant responses to various environmental or climatic stresses are immensely complex and implicate changes at the transcriptome, cellular, and physiochemical levels, consequently hindering crop growth as well as yield quantity and quality. Agriculture has been considered a complex network of plant-microbe interactions.
The use of microorganisms of agricultural importance [e.g., plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPM)] represent a major ecological strategy for integrated agricultural practices such as nutrient addition, biological control, abiotic stress (e.g., drought, salinity, heavy metals) alleviation to minimize the use of agrichemicals (e.g., fertilizers and pesticides) in agriculture as well as to improve crop performance (Ma et al., 2011, 2016a,b). While the immense diversity of soil microorganisms represents a tremendous opportunity for selecting PGPM, the interactions with plants and the cooperative and competitive interactions among microbes themselves make it extremely challenging to determine which microbes are responsible for synergistic ecosystem functions.
The essential aspects for the effectiveness of PGPM application biotechnology are the utilization of a proper inocula formulation and a suitable carrier, as well as delivery methods. Thus, considering the detrimental effects of biotic and abiotic stresses on agricultural production and food security, the development of technologies for exploring the microbial microenvironment and improving our understanding of how microbes communicate/interact with plants to enhance nutrient use-efficiency could pay substantial dividends.
Therefore, this Research Topic "Advanced Microbial Biotechnologies for Sustainable Agriculture" was launched to advance our knowledge of underlying mechanisms of plant-microbe interactions and review recent progress on the relationship between the microbiome and crop productivity and health that is at the frontier of agricultural sciences, with the potential to progress and transform agricultural systems in the field.