ABSTRACT
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Achieving further increments in agricultural productivity with a reduction in agro-
chemical use for economic or environmental reasons will need a new generation of
technologies. Among these are a growing number of biofertilizers and biostimulators
(Burdman et al., 2000; Bauer, 2001). Advances in soil microbiology and in applied
agricultural biotechnology, including bioengineering, are allowing the exploitation of
selected soil microorganisms that have high potential for fixing atmospheric nitrogen,
solubilizing fixed phosphorus in the soil, and synthesizing biochemical substances that,
when interacting with plants, stimulate the plants’ metabolism. Worldwide over the last
half century, many potentials of different microorganisms for having beneficial effects on
crop productivity have been demonstrated in diverse cultivation systems. However, lack
of technical and economic support has impeded the practical applications of these bacteria
and their general use for large areas of agricultural production (Sasson, 2000).
