Prolific Contribution of Microbes in Heat Stress Mitigation in Plants

In the present scenario, the heat stress (HS) is being prominent, affecting the agricultural system through showing negative impacts on plant growth. There are numerous traditional tactics, including plant breeding and genetic engineering, that have been used to circumvent the impact of HS on crops. However, using agriculturally important microbes provides sustainable and green strategies as substitutes. Agriculturally important microbes encompass rhizospheric microbes, endophytes and mycorrhizal fungi, which, besides showing plant growth promoting traits also augment the heat tolerance in plants. The synthesis of exopolysaccharides (EPS) and ACC deaminase are imperative mechanisms of these microbes for alleviating the effect of various abiotic stresses. As potential plant probiotics, these microbes exhibit various plant growth stimulatory effects such as nitrogen fixation, solubilization of nutrients, production of siderophore, ammonia, HCN and plant growth hormones. However, heat stress adapting microbes possessing multifarious plant growth stimulatory effects as bioinoculants can improve the plant resilience under heat stress by enhancing photosynthetic activity and strengthening antioxidant defence system. In this chapter, we illustrate the functional application of rhizo-microbes, endophytes and as well mycorrhiza in terms of alleviation of heat stress. In the current era of climate change, using microbes exerts an eco-friendly, and cost-effective approach for encouraging sustainable agricultural practices.