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The rhizosphere is undoubtedly the most complex microhabitat, comprised of an integrated network of plant roots, soil, and a diverse consortium of bacteria, fungi, eukaryotes, and archaea. The rhizosphere conditions have a direct impact on crop growth and yield. Nutrient-rich rhizosphere environments stimulate plant growth and yield and vice versa. Extensive cultivation exhaust most of the soils which need to be nurtured before or during the next crop. Chemical fertilizers are the major source of crop nutrients but their uncontrolled and widespread usage has posed a serious threat to the sustainability of agriculture and stability of an ecosystem. These chemicals are accumulated in the soil, drained in water, and emitted to the air where they persist for decades causing a serious threat to the overall ecosystem. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) present in the rhizosphere convert many plant-unavailable essential nutrients e.g., nitrogen, phosphorous, zinc, etc. into available forms. PGPR produces certain plant growth hormones (such as auxin, cytokinin, and gibberellin), cell lytic enzymes (chitinase, protease, hydrolases, etc.), secondary metabolites, and antibiotics, and stress alleviating compounds (e.g., 1-Aminocyclopropane-1- carboxylate deaminase), chelating agents (siderophores), and some signaling compounds (e.g., N-Acyl homoserine lactones) to interact with the beneficial or pathogenic counterparts in the rhizosphere. These multifarious activities of PGPR improve the soil structure, health, fertility, and functioning which directly or indirectly support plant growth under normal and stressed environments. Rhizosphere engineering with these PGPR has a wide-ranging application not only for crop fertilization but developing eco-friendly sustainable agriculture. Due to severe climate change effects on plants and rhizosphere biology, there is growing interest in stress-resilient PGPM and their subsequent application to induce stress (drought, salinity, and heat) tolerance mechanism in plants. This review describes the three components of rhizosphere engineering with an explicit focus on the broader perspective of PGPM that could facilitate rhizosphere engineering in selected hosts to serve as an efficient component for sustainable agriculture.

Water shortage limits agricultural productivity, so strategies to get higher yields in dry agricultural systems is vital to circumvent the effect of climate change and landshortage. The plant rhizosphere harbors beneficial bacteria able to confer biotic/abiotic tolerance along with a positive impact on plant growth. Herein, three bacterial strains, Proteus mirabilis R2, Pseudomonas balearica RF-2 and Cronobacter sakazakii RF-4 (accessions: LS975374, LS975373, LS975370, respectively) isolated from native desertweeds were investigated for their response to improve wheat growth under drought stress. The bacteria showed drought tolerance up to 20% polyethylene glycol (PEG; −0.6 MPa), and salt (65-97 g l −1 ), 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC)-deaminase activity, P/Zn/K-solubilization, calcite degradation, IAA, and siderophore production. The plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) were evaluated on wheat under water stress. The P. balearica strain RF-2 primed seeds showed a maximum promptness index and germination index under PEG-stress, that is, 68% and 100%, respectively. Inoculation significantly improved plant growth, leaf area, and biomass under water stress. P. mirabilis R2 inoculated plant leaves showed the highest water contents as compared to the plants inoculated with other strains. C. sakazakii RF-4 inoculated plants showed minimum cell injury, electrolyte leakage, and maximum cell membrane stability at PEG stress. After 13 days exposure to drought, C. sakazakii RF-4 treated plants showed an overall higher expression of cytosolic ascorbate peroxidase (cAPX) and ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase (rbcL) genes. The activity of stressinduced catalase and polyphenol oxidase was reduced, while that of peroxidase and superoxide dismutase increased after inoculation but the response was temporal.Taken together, this data explains that different PGPR (especially C. sakazakii RF-4) modulate differential responses in wheat that eventually leads towards drought tolerance, hence, it has the potential to enhance crop production in arid regions. | INTRODUCTIONThe last few decades have shown alarming evidence of climate change (Fischer & Knutti, 2015) on the entire planet. The world population is projected to hit 9.8 billion by 2050 (UN World Population Rabisa Zia and Muhammad Shoib Nawaz contributed equally to this study.