Plant Microbiome: Trends and Prospects for Sustainable Agriculture

The plant microbiome or microbial assemblage present in plants is known to have evolved along with the plants. With the help of high-throughput community analyses methods, next-generation sequencing techniques, etc., the black box of plant microbiome has been revealed to a significant extent. A great deal of microbial diversity exists in the plant which is known to be influenced by the genotype, soil properties, environmental factors, etc., and even in some cases they are organ or tissue specific. Despite their structural variation, they contribute significantly in the plant growth and development. Plant-associated microflora are known to contribute in nutrient mobilization, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses and even in many physiological functions of plants. Nowadays, study of plant microbiome has claimed much attention as engineering the microbiome can be a sustainable future option to tackle many of the issues pertaining to crop production and protection.