Unfolding the Role of Rhizomicrobiome Toward Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture symbolizes accomplished utilization of natural resources while ensuring the well-being of natural environment. It integrates the goals of environmental preservation, economic growth, and socioeconomic equality. For sustainable development of the human world, sustainable agriculture is the need of the hour. The broad application of microbes in sustainable agriculture is due to the genetic dependency of plants on the beneficial functions provided by symbiotic microbes. They can play instrumental role in transforming conventional agriculture to the sustainable one. Diverse microbial communities are symbiotically associated with plants as endophytes and epiphytes and rhizospheric communities. Structural as well as functional diversity exists among these communities. For the better understanding and positive exploitation of such communities in sustainable agriculture, it is inevitable to study each community individually. In the present chapter, the importance of rhizospheric communities, which can also be called as the rhizomicrobiome, has been addressed. Rhizosphere is the area around plant roots influenced by root exudates. It is a complex system in terms of chemical, biological, as well as physical properties. Plant–microbe interactions in the rhizosphere involve diverse relationships including plant growth promotion, plant protection, pathogenesis, competition, etc. Rhizospheric microbes are involved in the biogeochemical cycling of organic matter as well as mineral nutrients. Microbe-based growth promotion in plants could provide effective ways of developing sustainable agriculture in order to ensure human and animal food production with a minimal disturbance of the environment.