Synthetic microbial consortia for sustainable crop biofertilization and phytopathogen biocontrol: a critical review

Abstract

A greater emphasis has been focused on environment friendly components rather than the chemical-based substance due to the evolving movement towards sustainable agriculture. Now synthetic microbial consortia (SMCs) are becoming more popular as an effective alternative to individual beneficial microorganism because SMCs have the advantage of functional complementary. Researcher can develop stable communities which can increase the bioavailability of nutrient through the combination of various kind of taxa, like Pseudomonas, Trichoderma and Bacillus. SMCs are designed using bottom-up techniques which involve the utilization of various instruments such as microfluids and metabolic modelling. The main objective of these approaches is to make sure of strain compatibility and minimize the antagonistic activity. The transformation from the lab to the field is still remains difficult because the long-term stability of the consortia has been determined by some significant factors which include efficiency of rhizosphere colonization, competition with native bacteria, and variation in environmental condition. For the preservation of microbial viability some essential strategies are developing which include smart delivery methods and encapsulating technologies. This review suggests that future research must focus on the ecological integration of genetically engineered communities that can provide regular production of crop and suppression of disease in various kind of agroecosystems.