Plant growth-promoting actinobacteria: a new strategy for enhancing sustainable production and protection of grain legumes

Abstract

Grain legumes are a cost-effective alternative for the animal protein in improving the diets of the poor in South-East Asia and Africa. Legumes, through symbiotic nitrogen fixation, meet a major part of their own N demand and partially benefit the following crops of the system by enriching soil. In realization of this sustainability advantage and to promote pulse production, United Nations had declared 2016 as the ''International Year of pulses''. Grain legumes are frequently subjected to both abiotic and biotic stresses resulting in severe yield losses. Global yields of legumes have been stagnant for the past five decades in spite of adopting various conventional and molecular breeding approaches. Furthermore, the increasing costs and negative effects of pesticides and fertilizers for crop production necessitate the use of biological options of crop production and protection. The use of plant growth-promoting (PGP) bacteria for improving soil and plant health has become one of the attractive strategies for developing sustainable agricultural systems due to their eco-friendliness, low production cost and minimizing consumption of non-renewable resources. This review emphasizes on how the PGP actinobacteria and their metabolites can be used effectively in enhancing the yield and controlling the pests and pathogens of grain legumes.

Long‐term optimization of crop yield while concurrently improving soil quality

“…The Cytophagales and Pleosporales function in the transfer of nutrients from the soil to nearby plants (Fierer et al, 2007;Lowell & Klein, 2001;Porras-Alfaro, Herrera, Natvig, Lipinski, & Sinsabaugh, 2011). The Actinobacteria are able to promote plant growth and improve plant nutrition (Sathya, Vijayabharathi, & Gopalakrishnan, 2017), which may explain why we observed maximum crop N uptake in our ONR treatment with a minimal N fertilization rate (Figure 1). The ONR plots were characterized by lower relative abundance of the Microascales than the Control and FNP plots ( Figure 4); members of this order produce fungistatic substances that hamper the growth of resident fungi (Ko, Tsou, Ju, Hsieh, & Ann, 2010).…”

Steel slag amendment impacts on soil microbial communities and activities of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

“…Next to Proteobacteria, the phylum Actinobacteria significantly increased under the slag amendment. Actinobacteria play an important role in organic matter decomposition and biological buffering of soils 31,32 . Their relative increase probably facilitates nutrient mobilization in slag amended soils.…”

Phylogenetic and Functional Characterization of Culturable Endophytic Actinobacteria Associated With Camellia spp. for Growth Promotion in Commercial Tea Cultivars

“…Endophytic actinobacteria are recognized as potential agents for their PGP effects and their role in nutrient uptake in host plants by producing biologically active secondary metabolites that enhance the fitness and resilience of the plants against environmental stress (Dinesh et al, 2017;Singh and Dubey, 2018). Endophytic actinobacteria have drawn a significant interest in the recent years for their ability to produce bioactive secondary metabolites with diverse function (Sathya et al, 2017).…”