Cyanobacteria and agricultural crops

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic Gramnegative prokaryotes and have the ability to grow in a variety of aquatic and terrestrial environments. They occur freely or in symbiotic associations with a wide range of lower and higher plants or in microbial mats. Cyanobacteria are well known for having nitrogen fixing ability and other agriculturally important potentialities. This review focuses mainly on importance of cyanobacteria in agricultural field crops (especially paddy crop). These organisms may be exploited for boosting agriculture as they can fix nitrogen; produce various plant growth regulators (auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins etc.); enhance soil fertility by adding organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus to soil; degrade various agrochemicals (pesticides and herbicides) and control pathogenic effects of other microorganisms and plants. The role of cyanobacteria in sustainable agriculture is discussed here.