Role of microorganisms in abiotic stress management

The productivity of major crops has been detoriated due to increased intensity of biotic and abiotic stresses in all over the world. To overcome this, efficient resource management can mitigate the adverse effect of biotic and abiotic stress. However, these strategies being long drawn and cost intensive, there is a need to develop simple and low cost biological methods for the management of abiotic stress, which can be used on short term basis. Microorganisms are the most effective tool which could play a vital role in adaptation strategies and increased the tolerance to abiotic stresses in agricultural plants. Plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) mitigate most effectively the impact of abiotic stresses (drought, low temperature, salinity, and high temperatures) on plants through the production of exopolysaccharates and bio film formation. PGPR mitigate the impact of drought on plants through a process so-called induced systemic tolerance (IST), which includes: a) bacterial production of cytokinins, b) production of antioxidants, and c) degradation of the ethylene precursor ACC by bacterial ACC deaminase. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and endophytic rhizospheric bacteria also tend to mitigate the abiotic stress in plants.