Phytohormones from Phylloplane Microbes: A Review

Phylloplane provides sustenance for a wide array of microbes, including bacteria, fungi and yeasts. The epiphytes utilize leaf exudates and nutrients for sustenance and provide the plant with various secondary metabolites, some in the form of phytohormones required for physiological growth. Studies have revealed the putative plant growth promotion by resident microflora due to phytohormones production, though not much information is available on the impact of microbes on the probable yield of the host plants. The review is an insight into the phytohormone production by phylloplane microbes and the possible role they play in growth and development of plants, and extensive changes that should occur in the plant's endogenous pool of hormones caused by the epiphytes.