Mechanistic insights of plant-microbe interaction towards drought and salinity stress in plants for enhancing the agriculture productivity

Impact of key parameters involved with plant-microbe interaction in context to global climate change

“…One of the identifiable impacts of climate change is high fluctuation in precipitation patterns influencing the moisture content in air and soil, leading to inundation or drought. Insufficient or lack of moisture, drought stress poses a greater threat to food security as varying exposure affects crop yield in different amplitude (Gupta et al, 2022). Water deficient conditions trigger a series of morphological and physiological changes in plants as an after-effect or to stabilize the growth (Kumar and Verma, 2018).…”

“…The root morphology also changes (shrinking of roots) to alter water and nutrient allocation to various plant parts under exposure to drought stress to prevent dehydration that could force leaves to lose the ability to use photosystem II. Lack of water also affects the availability and absorption of nutrients through roots and relocation to other parts (Gupta et al, 2022). In addition, drought stress affects cell wall integrity, produces ROS, promotes early leaf senescence, increases ethylene production, decreases chlorophyll content, and reduces photosynthetic activity (Kumar and Verma, 2018).…”

“…In addition, drought stress affects cell wall integrity, produces ROS, promotes early leaf senescence, increases ethylene production, decreases chlorophyll content, and reduces photosynthetic activity (Kumar and Verma, 2018). Moreover, salts released from soil accumulate in the rhizosphere without water to dissolve and translocate, giving rise to salinity stress (Gupta et al, 2022).…”

“…Certain plant varieties exposed to water scare situations for generations would have adapted genetical traits to survive and grow normally. The drought-stress tolerance evolved by these plants also use phytohormones to improve growth under limited water content, activate cellular mechanisms to efflux excess salt from plant cells and translocate it to other parts, produce compatible solutes to mitigate the effect of drought stress and maintain water balance, increase antioxidant enzymes/chemical to scavenge excess ROS generated, etc., (Gupta et al, 2022). Plants also take up physiological measures like altering stomatal conductance, root length increment, leaf rolling, shortened life cycle, hairy leaves, etc., to escape water scarcity or maintain water potential (Seleiman et al, 2021).…”

“…Meanwhile, in some instances, exposure to salinity stress can be advantageous depending on the duration of exposure, severity, genotype, and plant development stages. Some studies have suggested that exposure to salinity has improved plant fertility by increasing clonal and sexual reproduction (Gupta et al, 2022).…”