Plant growth–promoting rhizobacteria and their functional role in salinity stress management

Abstract Currently the growing human population of the world is facing the challenge of low crop production. Changing climatic conditions and the adverse impact of biotic and abiotic stresses limit the growth and yield of crop production. Currently, a range of abiotic stresses including salinity, draught, heat, cold, accumulation of heavy metals, and xenobiotics not only affect the agricultural productivity but also the heath of human. Salinity is one of the severe stresses that limit the crop production, continuously increasing by an area throughout the world. Salinity largely influenced the root systems, physiology, and external morphology of the plant system. Salinity affects the productivity of the plants by generating reactive oxygen species that works as a signal of stress. For combating the salt stress conditions with the aim of sustainable development, recently, plant growth–promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are used as promising agents to promote the growth, biocontrol, and in the management of biotic and abiotic stresses in the plants. In this chapter, we focused on the salinity stress and the management strategies used by PGPR.