ABSTRACT
Food production in sustainable agriculture needs to increase for the ever-growing world population because the current agricultural system has reached its limits of effectiveness in enhancing plant productivity. This problem is complicated by shrinking farmland, high labor costs, and biotic and abiotic stresses. Plant-related microbiomes have the potential to tackle abiotic stresses, resulting in increased yields in farming systems. As a matter of fact, global agriculture and increased production would depend on the identification, isolation, and utilization of microbes of agricultural importance, which are regarded as a promising approach in future crop-productivity management strategies. Plant-associated microbiomes play a key role in integrated management practices such as plant health, biotic and abiotic stresses and enhanced nutrient acquisition for maintaining plant productivity. However, understanding the mechanisms operating at the community level by which plants and microbes make associations may further help to design novel microbiome-driven approaches for exploiting the microbiome in sustainable agriculture. This article provides an overview of effective exploitation of the plant-associated microbiome, an integrated approach in sustainable agriculture to address food security by effectively tackling environmental challenges.
