Abstract
Plants and their microbiomes, including plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), can work as a team to reduce the adverse effects of different types of stress, including drought, heat, cold, and heavy metals stresses, as well as salinity in soils. These abiotic stresses are reviewed here, with an emphasis on salinity and its negative consequences on crops, due to their wide presence in cultivable soils around the world. Likewise, the factors that stimulate the salinity of soils and their impact on microbial diversity and plant physiology were also analyzed. In addition, the saline soils that exist in Mexico were analyzed as a case study. We also made some proposals for a more extensive use of bacterial bioinoculants in agriculture, particularly in developing countries. Finally, PGPB are highly relevant and extremely helpful in counteracting the toxic effects of soil salinity and improving crop growth and production; therefore, their use should be intensively promoted.
Highlights
One of the main challenges for agriculture globally will be to fulfill increasing food demand for a growing population, as it is estimated that by 2050, it will reach >9 billion, which indicates an urgent need to elevate agricultural production over the following decades [1,2]
Biotic stress includes damage caused by pests and pathogens, including fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, and herbivorous insects, while abiotic stress includes heat, cold, drought, heavy metal contamination, and soil salinity
The inoculation of cultures with halotolerant and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria belonging to the genera Arthrobacter, Bacillus, Beijerinckia, Burkholderia, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, Erwinia, Mesorhizobium, Flavobacterium, Rhorandococcus, and Klebsiella resulted in the reduction in the adverse effects of salinity stress [85,143]
Summary
One of the main challenges for agriculture globally will be to fulfill increasing food demand for a growing population, as it is estimated that by 2050, it will reach >9 billion, which indicates an urgent need to elevate agricultural production over the following decades [1,2]. Salinity affects enzymatic activities, stomatal function, and photosynthetic rates, and increases the synthesis of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which damage cell membranes, lipids, proteins, DNA, and RNA, and induces programmed cell death [8,11]. This abiotic factor promotes hypertonic stress due to the accumulation of Na+ and Cl− ions [4]. It has been reported that the affected area involves around 1 million hectares, which is critical because the productivity of crops decreases significantly with increasing salinity This issue can be addressed with the use of PGPB, which will have a positive impact on the recovery of soil fertility, as well as help plants tolerate salt stress. This will allow the selection of the best PGPB to produce efficient bioinoculants for agricultural crops
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