Biopriming is Emerging as a Supplemental Strategy for Improving Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Crop Species

A recent review of worldwide data on nitrogen use efficiency warrants an immediate intervention of best management practices which will optimize best fertilizers option, farmer profitability and crop productivity. Nitrogen being a primary nutrient is critical for congenial plant growth. Additionally, the risk to human health due to indiscriminate use and concern due to energy intensive production of this input paves the way for use of bio-inoculants as the possible link for better utilization and use efficiency. Biopriming which involves seed priming in combination with low dosage of beneficial microbes has emerged as the most feasible eco-friendly supplement to the existing integrated plant nutrition system. In this chapter, we have presented an overview of the recent advances in biopriming with a special reference to nitrogen.