Halotolerance plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria for improving productivity and remediation of saline soils

Plant rhizospheres are home to microbial communities, complex in nature. These are known as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs). Today, much emphasis is being placed on the usage of these bacteria for the alleviation of a number of abiotic/biotic stresses, particularly salt stress. PGPRs providing tolerance to plants under salt stress are known as halotolerant PGPRs. This alternate strategy of providing tolerance to plants for salt stress condition is healthy, safe, and environmentally friendly. This even has a promising role in terms of reducing salinity while also increasing crop output. These PGPRs help plants resist higher salt concentrations by producing various organic and inorganic molecules. These are now evolving as effective biological agents that serve role in the mitigation of the negative impact of high salt concentrations. This in turn causes plant growth improvement and remediation of degraded saline soils. Finding and utilizing halotolerant bacteria will function in two areas: first, the need for salt-tolerant crop plants will be lessened/eliminated and second, the load on agricultural fields for the same will be reduced/diminished. Besides, it opens up innovative avenues for salinity tolerance and discovering more depth mechanisms of action under stress conditions.