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Rhizospheric Microflora: A Natural Alleviator of Drought Stress in Agricultural Crops

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Book cover Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria for Sustainable Stress Management

Part of the book series: Microorganisms for Sustainability ((MICRO,volume 12))

Abstract

Global climate change is one of the most serious challenges facing us today. Plant growth promotion and productivity are affected due to abiotic stresses which are specifically critical in arid and semiarid regions of the world. Abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, metal toxicity, etc. are affecting adversely the agricultural crops. The major abiotic stresses in India are drought stress and soil moisture stress. Various abiotic stress management procedures are implemented to reduce these stresses. However, as such strategies are long and costly, there is a need to develop simple and low-cost biological methods for managing drought stress. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) manage these stresses by various mechanisms, viz., tolerance to stresses, adaptations, and response mechanisms that can be subsequently engineered into plants to deal with climate change-induced stresses. These affect almost two-thirds of the farming areas of the arid and semiarid ecosystems. Production of indole acetic acid (IAA), gibberellins, and certain unknown determining factors by rhizospheric microflora results in enhanced root length, surface area, and number of root tips, leading to improved uptake of nutrients, thereby enhancing plant health under drought environments. Rhizospheric microflora enhances plant stress tolerance through 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase and provides protection to agricultural crops from the damage caused by drought stress. These rhizospheric bacteria enhance plant resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria mitigate the influence of drought on crops through a process called induced systemic resistance (ISR), which comprises (a) cytokinin production, (b) antioxidant production, and (c) ACC degradation by bacterial ACC deaminase. Implementation of the rhizospheric microorganisms together with novel technologies for their monitoring and risk assessments can contribute to solve food security problems caused by climate change. Present review captures the recent work on the function of microorganisms in helping plants to deal with drought stress which is the major stress caused by climate change.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to our guide professor, Dr. Meenu Saraf, and the Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Gujarat University, for encouraging us.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, University School of Sciences, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India

    J. Patel Priyanka, R. Trivedi Goral, K. Shah Rupal & Meenu Saraf

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  1. J. Patel Priyanka
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  2. R. Trivedi Goral
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  3. K. Shah Rupal
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  4. Meenu Saraf
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, PSGVP Mandal’s ASC College, Shahada, Maharashtra, India

    R. Z. Sayyed

  2. Department of Environmental Microbiology, School of Environmental Sciences, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Naveen Kumar Arora

  3. Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA

    M. S. Reddy

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Patel Priyanka, J., Trivedi Goral, R., Shah Rupal, K., Saraf, M. (2019). Rhizospheric Microflora: A Natural Alleviator of Drought Stress in Agricultural Crops. In: Sayyed, R., Arora, N., Reddy, M. (eds) Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria for Sustainable Stress Management . Microorganisms for Sustainability, vol 12. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6536-2_6

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