Harnessing multifunctional drought adaptive phosphorus solubilizing microbes for resilient agro-ecosystems

Drought stress is becoming more intense due to global warming and negatively impacts agriculture and ecosystem particularly the biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus (P). It disturbs the metabolic activities of the plants. Phosphorus is a vital macronutrient required by all life forms on Earth. It is essential for root development, stem and stalk strength, flower formation, seed production and increased resistance to diseases. However, this macronutrient is the most limiting nutrient for growth and productivity of the crops. It is usually present in the forms which cannot be taken up by the plants. The deficiency of P has been seen to be common in terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Chemical phosphatic fertilizers are used to deal with the deficiency of P in agricultural sector but application of the chemicals is not safe and leaves adverse effect on ecological health of the environment. Drought is one of the major constraints for crop growth and yield. Drought stress and soil moisture reduction leads to insufficient intake of the nutrients by the plants. Drought adaptive P-solubilizing microbes exhibiting multiple plant growth promoting (PGP) attributes are attracting notice for combating the deleterious effects of drought stress and increasing the availability of the phosphorus for the plants. Inoculating crops with P-solubilizing drought adaptive microbes could be a potential approach to alleviate the negative impact of the drought stress and P deficiency in plants growing under water scarcity ecosystems.