Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria: Harnessing Its Potential for Sustainable Plant Disease Management

Abstract

The sustainable plant disease management includes the use of beneficial microbes for the effective and sustained production of crop/plants. Numerous species of soil bacteria/rhizobacteria and fungi exist in the rhizosphere of plants which can counteract the pathogenic organisms and stimulate plant growth through direct/indirect mode of action. The plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs), viz., Pseudomonas, Bacillus, and Streptomyces, have been well exploited by scientists for the management of plant diseases in economically important agricultural and horticultural crops. In nature, interactions between the pathogenic and beneficial microbes take place which decides the existence of the pathogen in the rhizosphere region. Interaction of PGPR with pathogens in the rhizosphere may lead to an expression of innate immune response of defense genes in the plants which can counter the pathogen infection. This review helps in understanding the dynamics and existence of PGPR in the soil, their role in disease management, and their interaction with the pathogens which explore the possibility of identifying new proteins/genes in host-pathogen interaction. In addition, commercial production of bioagents with the suitable carrier material and delivery system play a major role in managing plant diseases under field conditions. The exploration for PGPR and study of their modes of action are escalating at a rapid pace, as efforts are made to exploit them commercially as bioinoculants.