Problems and prospects of utilization of bacterial endophytes for the management of plant diseases

• Published in: Indian phytopathology 2023-03, Vol.76 (1), p.3-20
• Main Author: Jha, Dhruva Kumar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Life Sciences; Plant Pathology; Review Article
• ISSN: 0367-973X; 2248-9800
• DOI: 10.1007/s42360-023-00599-9

Pests and diseases significantly reduce agricultural productivity, which is a huge challenge to global food security and farmer incomes. To fulfil the need for the anticipated rise in the global population by 2050, we must raise food production by at least 50%. The difficulty of overcoming this formidable obstacle has increased due to climate change, which may have an impact on the supply of water and the severity of diseases. Despite the 40-year increase in food production due to pest and disease management, pathogens continue to have a substantial negative impact on crop output. These biotic stressors can be controlled by applying physical, biological, and chemical measures. The majority of the chemical control agents are toxic to both beneficial as well as pathogenic organisms. The concentration of pesticides in food and the environment has increased over the years due to their irrational use which not only harms human health and the environment but also results in pesticide resistance and a resurgence of some pests. In contrast, the biological control agents are non-toxic to humans, are host specific, and affect only one or few species. So, there is a need to develop alternative strategies to overcome these shortcomings of chemical applications in agriculture. There is proof that endophytic bacteria enhance plant growth by helping plants build resistance and absorb nutrients from the soil. When pathogens attack, endophytes cause “priming” effects that cause the plant to defend itself more quickly and effectively. Therefore, endophytic bacteria would make good biological control agents. There are, however, challenges like relatively few candidate microorganisms being tested, selection of microbes based on the results of laboratory tests that do not always replicate in field conditions, exclusion of responsiveness of microbes to commercial development selection criterion, compatibility with pesticides, quality control, regulations, etc. on the way to developing a commercially viable biological agent. Ecologically important features necessary for survival in the wild throughout a target functional period have received little to no attention if any at all. If we need to use endophytic bacteria/microbiome for workable techniques to increase agricultural productivity, perspectives of the mechanism of endophytic bacterial colonization and subsequent interactions with plants must be improved. We still do not understand how a plant receives endophytes, maintain