Plant microbes play a big role in plant growth and soil fertility and have done so for as long as humanity can remember. Both plants and soil are hotspots for these microbes – the ones found in the soil serving for global nutrient balance and ecosystem functionality, while those found in plants having plant growth promoting (PGP) attributes, making them important and promising tools for agriculture in the future.
Plant growth promoting microbes promote plant growth either directly, or indirectly. Directly, they do their job through plant growth regulators and indirect practice is carried out by producing siderophore, ammonia HCN, and other, secondary, metabolites, all of which being antagonistic against pathogenic microbes.
The potential for plant growth promoting microbes lies in the possibility of their use as biofertilizers/bio-inoculants, or chemical fertilizers for sustainable agriculture. The idea for this, then, is to use a safe and hopefully better way to grow crops while also sustaining our fields and not deplete them of their fertility.
Sources: Plant Microbes for Sustainable Agriculture: Current Research and Future Challenges (Ajar Nath Yadav)