ABSTRACT
Pesticides are toxic chemical substances which are intentionally liberated into the surroundings for the purpose of killing, controlling, mitigating the population of insects, weeds, rodents, and other harmful pests in agricultural, domestic, and industrial framework. Although pesticides are beneficial in controlling the growth of all these pests but their unregulated and indiscriminate use has increased their concentration in soil and water which is detrimental to human health, animals, and to the ecosystems. The population of the world is increasing at a very fast speed resulting to higher demand for the food. This demand can be solved by improving agricultural practices. However, this should be done in consonance with ecological balance which in turn advocates the depletion in the usage of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Therefore, keeping in view the ecological perspectives, plant-microbe interactions can be a better alternative for improving agriculture production and also facilitate the degradation of pesticides. Such interactions between plants and microbes can modify the physio-chemical and biochemical properties of soil. Symbiotic interactions of soil microbes with plants stimulate plant productivity by supplying limiting nutrients to the plants. One of the best studied interactions of plants and microbes is that of N2 fixing bacteria and root nodules of legumes which play an important role in providing nitrogen supplement to plants and improvement of agricultural productivity. Plants generate a desirable micro-environment around their root-zone that promotes degradation of contaminants. In soil, degradation of toxic organic 130compounds through plant-associated bacteria includes endophytic and rhizo-spheric bacteria.
