HARNESSING PLANT-MICROBIOME INTERACTIONS TO IMPROVE CROP RESILIENCE AND PRODUCTIVITY UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE CONDITIONS

Abstract

Climate change is posing mounting threats to the global food security because of its increasing challenges on the agricultural sectors, particularly erratic weather patterns, temperature rise and more frequent droughts. This study looks into the influence of plant microbiome interactions in improving crop resilience and productivity under the climate stress such as drought, salinity and heat. Plant rhizosphere and leaf microbial communities are important for plant growth, acquisition of nutrients from soil, resistance to stress and disease. We examined how environmental stresses influence the pattern of both the diversity and functionality of the microorganisms that colonize four globally important crops: wheat, rice, maize and soybean. Profilin of bacterial and fungal community was also done by high-throughput sequencing technologies and this demonstrated significant changes in microbial composition under different stress conditions. Functional gene analysis revealed that these genes overexpress them belong to the class enriched in stress tolerances, stressed osmotic regulation, ion transport genes and heat shock proteins. Additionally, inoculation with microbial inoculations based on the microbiome dramatically enhanced plant growth alongside stress tolerance and improved soil health that showed positive progression in biomass of root and shoots, chlorophyll content and a decrease in physiological stress markers. The interventions based on microbiome were pointed out as a great opportunity to increase the crop resilience, decrease the dependence on chemical inputs and invite into sustainable farming practices. Plant microbiome interactions benefit a promising means to combat current challenges brought about by the rise of climate change and address food security.