ABSTRACT
Despite of the presence of substantial phosphorus in soils, most soils are phosphorus-deficient in terms of available phosphorus, which is required in plants as a macronutrient for initiation and sustaining growth and development. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB)/phosphobacteria have the ability to solubilize unavailable forms and release them for plant uptake. PSB, with other plant growth–promoting traits such as nitrogen fixation and the production of siderophore, indole acetic acid, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase, antibiotics, and antifungal metabolites, have been implicated in various plant studies to overcome osmotic, heavy metal, and pesticide stress in different soil environments. PSB endowed with plant growth–promoting traits and concurrently accelerating phytoremediating capabilities would have beneficial impact on plants grown in polluted soils by improving their remediating potential via production of plant health–promoting metabolites and protection from deleterious pathogens. This chapter highlights the mechanisms of bacterial phosphate solubilization with the current findings and integrates recent knowledge of the different plant-beneficial traits of PSB to discuss their implications in sustainable plant growth and development, as well as their applications to improve the phytoremediation capacity of plants.
