Phytomicrobiome-Resilience to climate change

The abnormal change in weather has resulted in rise in global temperature and the frequency as well as intensity of abiotic factors like drought has a negative influence on agricultural production in many areas. These aspects are mainly related to nutrient acquisition and stress tolerance. Changing the phytomicrobiome or its interactions can improve both of these parameters. "Phytomicrobiome" refers to the microbes that are associated with plants, including bacteria, archaebacteria, fungi, and viruses. It is a community of microorganisms that establish essential ecological relationships with the host plant. This community has the potential to protect the plant against abiotic stresses such as drought, heat, and salinity by producing antioxidant enzymes, plant growth hormones, bioactive compounds, and by detoxifying harmful chemicals, Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), and free radicals. The abiotic factors have significantly impacted the diversity of microbiome in rhizosphere, phyllosphere and endophytes. To cope with adverse condi- tions, phytomicrobiomes enables the plants to develop sophisticated mech- anisms to sense the stress signals to ensure optimal growth responses. The phytomicrobiome has played a crucial role in creating new bioinoculants, Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) formulations, biofertilizers, biostimulants and biocontrol agents being effective alternatives to chemical fertilizers in future for specific crops, contributing to sustainable agricultural productivity for farmers and society. This article mainly emphasizes on the phytomicrobiome interactions for plant health and how environmentally friendly methods can be used to maximize the agricultural productivity as well as how the phytomicrobiome can be used to reduce the effect of drought stress on plants and boost crop productivity.