Chapter 2 - Role of soil microbes in modulating the physiological attributes of plants under extreme environmental conditions

Abstract

The increase in the incidence of abiotic and biotic stresses severely impacts plant health, crop production, productivity, food quality, and global nutritional security. As a result of such stresses, plant attributes such as physiological, biochemical, and molecular characteristics changed. There is a growing global demand for effective, ecologically friendly solutions to mitigate the negative consequences of plant stresses. The significance of plant–beneficial microbe interactions under such stressful conditions cannot be emphasized. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are a viable option to reduce these stresses and are now widely adopted by stakeholders. Plant growth and development may be enhanced by PGPRs, which regulate plant hormones, promote nutrient uptake, produce siderophores, boost the antioxidant system, increases the production of ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate) deaminase, reduce stress ethylene production, modify phytohormonal content, induce plant antioxidative enzymes, and produce extracellular polymeric substance (EPS). But when concerned with biotic stresses, both acquired systemic resistance (ASR) and induced systemic resistance (ISR) are effective. In this chapter, we explore abiotic and biotic stress-tolerant beneficial microbes and their modes of action to increase sustainable crop production in extreme environmental conditions.