Abstract
Abiotic stresses, including low-temperature environments, adversely affect the structure, composition, and physiological activities of soil microbiomes. Also, low temperatures disturb physiological and metabolic processes, leading to major crop losses worldwide. Extreme cold temperature habitats are, however, an interesting source of psychrophilic and psychrotolerant phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) that can ameliorate the low-temperature conditions while maintaining their physiological activities. The production of antifreeze proteins and expression of stress-induced genes at low temperatures favors the survival of such organisms during cold stress. The ability to facilitate plant growth by supplying a major plant nutrient, phosphorus, in P-deficient soil is one of the novel functional properties of cold-tolerant PSB. By contrast, plants growing under stress conditions require cold-tolerant rhizosphere bacteria to enhance their performance. To this end, the use of psychrophilic PSB formulations has been found effective in yield optimization under temperature-stressed conditions. Most of the research has been done on microbial P biofertilizers impacting plant growth under normal cultivation practices but little attention has been paid to the plant growth-promoting activities of cold-tolerant PSB on crops growing in low-temperature environments. This scientific gap formed the basis of the present manuscript and explains the rationale for the introduction of cold-tolerant PSB in competitive agronomic practices, including the mechanism of solubilization/mineralization, release of biosensor active biomolecules, molecular engineering of PSB for increasing both P solubilizing/mineralizing efficiency, and host range. The impact of extreme cold on the physiological activities of plants and how plants overcome such stresses is discussed briefly. It is time to enlarge the prospects of psychrophilic/psychrotolerant phosphate biofertilizers and take advantage of their precious, fundamental, and economical but enormous plant growth augmenting potential to ameliorate stress and facilitate crop production to satisfy the food demands of frighteningly growing human populations. The production and application of cold-tolerant P-biofertilizers will recuperate sustainable agriculture in cold adaptive agrosystems.
Highlights
The work presented in this manuscript is likely to generate wide interest within the scientific community concerned for psychrophiles, psychrophilic phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB), and food production in cold regions
The multifarious growth stimulatory activity of cold-tolerant PSB represents one of the most important functional groups of bacteria, which could be developed as suitable bacterial formulations able to endure at extremely low temperatures while retaining their plant growth modulating traits for crops growing in low-temperature environments
The production of important food crops such as cereals, vegetables, and legumes can be optimized in colder areas using such cold-adapted PSB strains, thereby reducing the dependence on chemical fertilizers applied in the intensive agrosystems
Summary
The complex physiological process of psychrophilic PSB is, influenced by biotic or abiotic factors such as soil nutrient pool, soil pH, salt contents, temperature, and humidity [26] These bacteria, when applied, have been reported to accelerate crop production under a low-temperature environment. Pseudomonas isolates (RT5RP2 and RT6RP) colonizing the rhizoplane of wild grass, growing at 3100 and 3800 m above sea level, grew at a temperature that varied between 4 and 30 ◦ C and when applied with Udaipur rock phosphate (URP) the P uptake of lentil plants under greenhouse conditions was significantly enhanced [27] Considering these facts, attention in research is growing to discover cold-adapted PSB which could successfully colonize cold habitats and influence the processes of nutrient turnover at low temperatures. The work presented in this manuscript is likely to generate wide interest within the scientific community concerned for psychrophiles, psychrophilic PSB, and food production in cold regions
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