Microbial Products and Their Role in Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Microbial products are being used from ages in known as well as unknown forms. Some common products harvested from microbes include proteins, amino acids, antibiotics, antibodies, secondary metabolites, organic acids, lipids, and so on. It also includes antivirals, polymers, surfactants, enzyme inhibitors, nutraceuticals, and many industrial and agricultural products. Moreover, sometimes the whole single celled microbes are harvested as a rich source of protein called single cell proteins. In a nutshell, all these products cover almost every economic sector like food, feed, agriculture, healthcare, fuel, textile, and pharmaceutical. Hence, these microbial products have serious socio-economic impressions and have unleashed enormous possibilities in terms of commercial production. However, only a small fraction of microbial products are exploited, and a larger chest remains to be achieved. In the chapter, the importance of microbes in the production of proteins, enzymes, and secondary metabolites are discussed in detail with special emphasis on sustainable agriculture.