Lack of kinship with anaerobes is a kind of short-sightedness of agricultural and environmental microbiologists.

Abstract

Due to limited diffusion, active root respiration and intense microbial metabolism, rhizosphere and deeper layer of bulk soil often face hypoxic or anaerobic conditions. The majority of the data on plant growth promotion (PGP) and rhizoremediation have been obtained in aerobic conditions using aerobic or facultative anaerobic microbes neglecting anaerobes and actual soil oxygen conditions. Data obtained with a nutrient-rich medium from an aerobic condition do not exactly translate in oxygen-stressed oligotrophic environments of soil, leading to failure of hypothesis and microbial technology for PGP and pollutants remediation. Anaerobes are key players in the soil ecosystems and participate in the different biogeochemical processes of ecological and environmental significance. This Opinion article aims to divert the attention of agricultural and environmental Microbiologists towards neglected anaerobes and anaerobic processes to develop successful and sustainable PGP and pollutants removal by rhizospheric microorganisms.