Soil Microorganisms for Plant Growth Promotion and Soil Health provides readers with an overview of plant growth-promoting microorganisms and their molecular mechanisms to improve plant growth and soil health. Students and researchers in soil science will gain a comprehensive understanding of soil microbiota diversity and functions, along with insights into the mechanisms by which plant growth, including molecular processes involved in nutrient acquisitions and defense mechanisms work. In addition, the book provides a noteworthy emphasis on fungi.
A soil beneficial microbe cannot only be the living cells, but also their components, such as molecules or enzymes produced by this beneficial microbiota. Molecules like microbial phytohormones can be excellent promoters or regulators of plant growth, as well as proteins and other compounds like volatiles, which might elicit a systemic resistance response against pathogenic threats. Therefore, plant growth promoters living in soil, associated with plant roots, could act through direct beneficial interactions with the plant, by stimulating or regulating growth responses to environmental conditions, or indirectly by inhibiting the growth of potential microbial pathogens and herbivore pests.
