Chapter 7 - Microbial Secondary Metabolites: Natural Benediction Elements for Plants During Abiotic and Biotic Stress Conditions

Abstract

Agriculture system is the most sensitive ecosystem that is highly affected by natural or artificial processes. Abiotic stress and biotic stress relegate the crop productivity and reduce the reliability of global food issues in the current scenario of climate change and hazardous environmental pollution. Plants can adapt to unfavorable environmental conditions via morphologic and physiochemical changes to conquer the severity of the particular ailments. Microorganisms play an important role in protecting against salinity stress, heavy metal toxicity, temperature, drought, and harmful rays (ultraviolet rays, γ-rays); in balancing nutritional elements that come under abiotic stress; and in helping to combat biotic stresses such as plant pathogenic strains and pests. Plant-microbiota interaction depends on the specificity of the symbiotic or endophytic relationship, which can be both rhizospheric and phyllospheric. Novel agronomic practices and modern techniques can be utilized for the benefits of both plants and the associated microbes. Plant growth-promoting microbes, metal-tolerant microbes, and extremophiles provide plant protection via numerous mechanisms, such as secondary metabolite production and secretion of antibiotics and enzymes with induced systemic resistance, and can be employed in sustainable agricultural practices. This chapter simplifies the understanding of the mechanism behind secondary metabolite production during plant-microbe interaction and their metabolic pathways that indirectly or directly affect the plant growth and development in the course of adverse environmental conditions.