Halotolerant plant growth-promoting bacteria mediated plant salt resistance and microbiome-based solutions for sustainable agriculture in saline soils.

Abstract

Soil salinization has been the major form of soil degradation under the dual influence of climate change and high-intensity human activities, threatening global agricultural sustainability and food security. High salt concentrations induce osmotic imbalance, ion stress, oxidative damage, and other hazards to plants, resulting in retarded growth, reduced biomass and even total crop failure. Halo-tolerant plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (HT-PGPR), as a widely distributed group of beneficial soil microorganisms, are emerging as a valuable biological tool for mitigating the toxic effects of high salt concentrations and improve plant growth while remediating degraded saline soil. Here, the current status, harm and treatment measures of global soil salinization are summarized. The mechanism of salt tolerance and growth promotion induced by HT-PGPR are reviewed. We highlight that advances in multi-omics technologies are helpful for exploring the genetic and molecular mechanisms of microbiota centered on HT-PGPR to address the issue of plant losses in saline soil. Future research is urgently needed to comprehensively and robustly determine the interaction mechanism between the root microbiome centered on HT-PGPR and salt-stressed plants via advanced means to maximize the efficacy of HT-PGPR as a microbial agent.