Bio-fertilizers for Sustainable Agriculture Development Under Salinity Stress

Abstract

Agriculture is considered as a crucial sector for Egyptian social and economic sustainable development as a majority of the country’s population depends on it. Essential scope of sustainable agriculture is the development of land productivity which faces many constraints. One of these constraints is a soil salinity which causes high reductions in cultivated land area, crop productivity and quality. Bio-fertilization is an innovate strategy of sustainable agricultural development to be emerge for development of salt-affected land. This eco-friendly technology is becoming vital in modern agricultural practices for their potential role in alleviating biotic and abiotic stress on plants, sustainable crop production, reduction the use of chemical fertilizers and mitigation the adverse impacts on soil. Bio-fertilizers including different plant growth promoting endophytes, rhizobacteria and fungi can alleviate the adverse effects of salinity by certain direct and indirect specialized functional traits. Under this stress conditions, bio-fertilizers can stimulate the plant growth and induce plant resistance against salinity stresses at the same time. This chapter illustrates a variety of mechanisms that efficient microorganisms used for stimulating the plant growth in salt-affected soils and focuses on the findings of the most recent research study on the use of biological fertilizers in salt affected regions to facilitates and enhance the development of the agricultural sector.