Unraveling the potential of microbial diversity in pesticide remediation: An eco-friendly approach for environmental sustainability

The hap hazardous and inappropriate application of pesticides and their deposition in the soil lowers agricultural productivity and increases disease tolerance to these pesticides. The pesticide treatment at recommended and higher dosages causes a severe reduction in the numbers of nitrogen-fixing, phosphate, and zinc-solubilizing microbial communities. The uptake of pesticides by plants adversely affects the growth and productivity of crops, electron transport reactions of chloroplasts, and reduction in antioxidant defense enzymes. These are elements that agronomists find quite disturbing in intensive cropping systems under changing climatic conditions. Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) in the rhizosphere degrades the pesticide and uses it as a nutrient source for their growth. They are capable of producing different types of growth-enhancing bio-active molecules, including plant-hormones such as auxins, cytokinins, gibberellins, etc. PGPR are known to solubilize insoluble phosphate and zinc, indirectly enhancing plants' growth and expansion by synthesizing siderophore production. These numerous PGPR's activities enhance the soil's fertility, soil health, and functioning, which either directly or indirectly gain plant growth in normal and pesticide-stressful conditions. Since pesticides have disastrous effects on plants and rhizosphere biology, there is a growing interest in a variety of stress-resilient PGPR's. Their subsequent use in contemporary agriculture for pesticides breakdown highlights the need of promoting pesticide stress tolerance. The functions of soil-dwelling PGPR's in reducing pesticide stress, the supply of nutrients (nitrogen fixation and phosphorus solubilization), the generation of phytohormones, and the variables that may significantly impact their efficacy. The role of pesticide-tolerating PGPR's and the molecular pathways underlying the rhizobacteria's development of pesticide tolerance needs more investigations. Therefore, this analysis fills the void and provides an overview of PGPR's as a bio-fertilizer for agricultural sustainability under agro-chemicals stressed condition. Giving a better understanding how PGPR's tolerates and degrade agro-chemicals reduces environmental pollution brought on by overuse of pesticides increasing plant nutrient availability by means of phosphate and zinc solubilization, indole acetic acid production and etc. This review primarily focuses on the significance and necessity of pesticide-tolerant PGPR's for environmentally responsible and sustainable practices in our farming systems, particularly in pesticide-stressed conditions that will likely worsen soon due to the pesticides' residual effects. Therefore, fostering plant well-being and offering a sustainable substitute for artificial fertilizers.