Favorable Soil Microbes for Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Beneficial microbes are used as the best alternative against the synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The beneficial microbes not only help with plant growth, nutrition uptake, nitrogen fixation, but also help in acquiring the ions, not freely available to plants to uptake; these microbes also guard the plants by secreting toxic chemicals by inducing defense systems against pathogens. These microbes can provide best choice to look forward to sustainable agriculture and sustainable ecosystem. The addition of soil inoculants in the form of microorganisms or bio stimulants promise more environmentally friendly approaches for augmenting crop yields. The crop becomes less reliant on chemical fungicides and herbicides as many strains of microorganism have abilities of controlling pests. In this chapter, the interaction of beneficial plant bacteria, bio stimulants, effects on native microbial communities, and bacteria influencing economically important crops are discussed.