Role of AM Fungi and PGPR in Alleviating Stress Responses and Inducing Defense Mechanism

Abiotic and biotic stresses are both the chief constraints to crop production. Growth and development of plants are affected by numerous factors, for example, pathogen attack, disease susceptibility, ionic toxicity, poor nutrition, etc. Different kinds of chemical supplements have been approached in order to overcome these problems. Though these chemical fertilizers increased the crop productivity, on the other side, they were proved to be harmful for soil health and make it unsuitable for sustainable agriculture. To overcome these complications, soil microbes have been used as effective alternative. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can uphold plant growth by various mechanisms and are considered as highly efficient biological agents for conferring stress tolerance in plants and improving soil health. Both the PGPR and AMF form the positive relationship with their host plants and helps them in acquisition of nutrition, enhances plant growth and productivity and induce defense against biotic as well as abiotic stresses. Thus, plant growth promoting bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi proved to be vital for sustainable agriculture. Both plant growth-promoting bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi proved to be vital for sustainable agriculture. The present work will review the role of AMF and PGPR in alleviating stress responses and inducing the defense mechanism in plants.