Growing demographic trends require sustainable technologies to improve quality and yield of future food productions. However, there is uncertainty about plant protection strategies in many agro-ecosystems. Pests, diseases, and weeds are overwhelmingly controlled by chemicals which pose health risks and cause other undesirable effects.Therefore, an increasing concern on control measures emerged in recent years. Many chemicals became questioned with regard to their sustainability and are (or will be) banned. Alternative management tools are studied, relying on biological, and low impact solutions. This ResearchTopic concerns microbial biocontrol agents, root-associated microbiomes, and rhizosphere networks. Understanding how they interact or respond to (a)biotic environmental cues is instrumental for an effective and sustainable impact. The rhizosphere is in this regard a fundamental object of study, because of its role in plant productivity. This e-book provides a polyhedral perspective on many issues in which beneficial microorganisms are involved. Data indeed demonstrate that they represent an as yet poorly-explored resource, whose exploitation may actively sustain plant protection and crop production. Given the huge number of microbial species present on the planet, the microorganisms studied represent just the tip of an iceberg. Data produced are, however, informative enough about their genetic and functional biodiversity, as well as about the ecosystem services they provide to underp in crop production. Challenges for future research work concern not only the biology of these species, but also the practices required to protect their biodiversity and to extend their application in the wide range of agricultural soils and systems present in the world. Agriculture cannot remain successfully and sustainable unless plant germplasm and useful microbial species are integrated, a goal for which new knowledge and information-based approaches are urgently needed.

The use of biocontrol agents and beneficial organisms for management of plant and pest diseases appears as an environment-friendly and economic procedure. However, this option is not always available, depending on the lack of knowledge on the mechanisms of natural regulation, locally effective. In this view, this eBook considers studies and experimental works illustrating a range of problems and solutions based on microbial resources, suitable for management of biotic stress factors. These examples show how detailed data and knowledge on the organisms involved are of paramount importance to achieve a sustainable and durable management capability.

This book discusses the cross-talk between plants and microbes in the rhizosphere. The rhizosphere is the hotspot of microbial activities that influence plant growth and crop yield. The rhizosphere-residing microbes include the nitrogen-fixing rhizobia, mycorrhizal fungi, antibiotic-producing bacteria, antagonistic, plant-beneficial fungi, and entomopathogens. The three-way cross-talk among the plants, the pathogens and other microbes involves signaling molecules, metabolites, and physical interactions. The book also describes deleterious and beneficial aspects of this communication between plants and microbes. Plants program the local microbiome near their roots, and the microbial community has a profound influence on the functioning of the plant. This complex communication makes the collection of chapters a timely one, because the diverse subjects are linked by their focus on the molecular language of plant-microbe cross-talk. This timely and informative book is useful for students and researchers in the fields of microbiology, soil biology, and plant pathology.

The study of plant-microbe associations by new techniques has significantly improved our understanding of the structure and specificity of the plant microbiome. Yet, microbiome function and the importance of the plant’s microbiome in the context of human and plant health are largely unexplored. Comparable with our human microbiome, millions of microbes inhabit plants, forming complex ecological communities that influence plant growth and health through its collective metabolic activities and host interactions. Viewing the microbiota from an ecological perspective can provide insight into how to promote plant health and stress tolerance of their hosts or how to adapt to a changing climate by targeting this microbial community. Moreover, the plant microbiome has a substantial impact on human health by influencing our gut microbiome by eating raw plants such as lettuce and herbs but also by influencing the microbiome of our environment through airflow. This research topic comprising reviews, original and opinion articles highlights the current knowledge regarding plant microbiomes, their specificity, diversity and function as well as all aspects studying the management of plant microbiomes to enhance plant growth, health quality and stress tolerance.

This book is exploring molecular insight of plant disease resistance, enhancing plant immunity as well as the latest omics or approaches in plant disease management. In the recent past, microbial strains or products frequently utilized to inhibit the growth of phytopathogen and disease management. However, it is well known that plants respond to numerous biotic and abiotic stresses by morphological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms. But still there is much more to study about their molecular aspect of interaction between host- pathogens- biocontrol agents that will be helpful in formulation and applications of microbial antagonistic for effective management of phytopathogens. This book attempt to fill this gap in the literature. This book is of interest to teachers, researchers, agronomist, horticulturalist scientists, capacity builders and policymakers. Also the book serves as additional reading material for undergraduate and graduate students of agriculture, microbiology, environment science.

Biological control has become an attractive alternative strategy for the control of plant diseases to reduce the excessive use of agrochemicals and its health hazards. But a significant gap still exists between basic research involving the discovery of a biocontrol agent and its development and implementation under commercial conditions. Because BCAs (unlike chemical a.m.) need to establish, colonize, survive and perform their metabolic activity to control diseases. In order to move a biocontrol agent from the laboratory to the market place requires many different disciplines and people with a variety of expertise. Research can stimulate the development of commercial biocontrol agents. Chapter 16 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book encompasses the current knowledge of plant microbiomes and their potential biotechnological application for plant growth, crop yield and soil health for sustainable agriculture. The plant microbiomes (rhizospheric, endophytic and epiphytic) play an important role in plant growth, development, and soil health. Plant and rhizospheric soil are a valuable natural resource harbouring hotspots of microbes, and it plays critical roles in the maintenance of global nutrient balance and ecosystem function. The diverse group of microbes is key components of soil–plant systems, where they are engaged in an intense network of interactions in the rhizosphere/endophytic/phyllospheric. The rhizospheric microbial diversity present in rhizospheric zones has a sufficient amount of nutrients release by plant root systems in form of root exudates for growth, development and activities of microbes. The endophytic microbes are referred to those microorganisms, which colonize in the interior of the plant parts, viz root, stem or seeds without causing any harmful effect on host plant. Endophytic microbes enter in host plants mainly through wounds, naturally occurring as a result of plant growth, or through root hairs and at epidermal conjunctions. Endophytes may be transmitted either vertically (directly from parent to offspring) or horizontally (among individuals). The phyllosphere is a common niche for synergism between microbes and plant. The leaf surface has been termed as phyllosphere and zone of leaves inhabited by microorganisms as phyllosphere. The plant part, especially leaves, is exposed to dust and air currents resulting in the establishments of typical flora on their surface aided by the cuticles, waxes and appendages, which help in the anchorage of microorganisms. The phyllospheric microbes may survive or proliferate on leaves depending on extent of influences of material in leaf diffuseness or exudates. The leaf diffuseness contains the principal nutrients factors (amino acids, glucose, fructose and sucrose), and such specialized habitats may provide niche for nitrogen fixation and secretions of substances capable of promoting the growth of plants. The microbes associated with plant as rhizospheric, endophytic and epiphytic with plant growth promoting (PGP) attributes have emerged as an important and promising tool for sustainable agriculture. PGP microbes promote plant growth directly or indirectly, either by releasing plant growth regulators; solubilization of phosphorus, potassium and zinc; biological nitrogen fixation or by producing siderophore, ammonia, HCN and other secondary metabolites which are antagonistic against pathogenic microbes. The PGP microbes belong to different phylum of archaea (Euryarchaeota); bacteria (Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Deinococcus-Thermus, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria) and fungi (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota), which include different genera namely Achromobacter, Arthrobacter, Aspergillus, Azospirillum, Azotobacter, Bacillus, Beijerinckia, Burkholderia, Enterobacter, Erwinia, Flavobacterium, Gluconoacetobacter, Haloarcula, Herbaspirillum, Methylobacterium, Paenibacillus, Pantoea, Penicillium, Piriformospora, Planomonospora, Pseudomonas, Rhizobium, Serratia and Streptomyces. These PGP microbes could be used as biofertilizers/bioinoculants at place of chemical fertilizers for sustainable agriculture. The aim of “Plant Microbiomes for Sustainable Agriculture” is to provide the current developments in the understanding of microbial diversity associated with plant systems in the form of rhizospheric, endophytic and epiphytic. The book is useful to scientist, research and students related to microbiology, biotechnology, agriculture, molecular biology, environmental biology and related subjects.