ABSTRACT
Agricultural microbes are essential biological resources, which can effectively promote crop production via diverse mechanisms. To date, a large array of microbes has been intensively studied to excavate their potential application in agriculture production. These microbes mainly include nitrogen-fixing microbes, mycorrhizal fungi, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, and endophytes, which confer benefits to crops. During the past decade, the ever-increasingly accumulated experimental evidence provides insights into the microbial resources, environmental adaptation, and their action modes of functionality, which involve taxonomy, biology (e.g., physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and multi-omics), and ecology. In this chapter, we present a critical review on these aspects, and address what they are and how to apply them in the agricultural production. The knowledge gaps with implications in the cropping practice in the future are proposed.
