Sumant Kumar Pandey
2021
The world wide increase in human population raises a big threat to the food security of each people as the land for agriculture is limited and even getting reduced with time. Therefore, it is essential that agricultural productivity should be enhanced significantly within the next few decades to meet the large demand of food by emerging population. Not to mention, too much dependence on chemical fertilizers for more crop productions inevitably damages both environmental ecology and human health with great severity. Exploitation of microbes as biofertilizers is considered to some extent an alternative to chemical fertilizers in agricultural sector due to their extensive potentiality in enhancing crop production and food safety. It has been observed that some microorganisms including plant growth promoting bacteria, fungi, Cyanobacteria, etc. have showed biofertilizer-like activities in the agricultural sector. Extensive works on biofertilizers have revealed their capability of providing required nutrients to the crop in sufficient amounts that resulted in the enhancement of crop. There are 17 essential elements required for proper growth and development of the plant. Among them, nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K) are needed in relatively large quantities . Several microorganisms are commonly used as biofertilizers including nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria and cyanobacteria, phosphate-solubilizing bacteria, used along with the combination of molds and fungi. Similarly, phytohormone producing bacteria are also used in biofertilizer formulation. They provide the growth- promoting substances like indole acetic acid (IAA), amino acids, and vitamins to the plant and improve the productivity and fertility of the soil while maintaining the crop yield. The present review elucidates various mechanisms that have been exerted by biofertilizers in order to promote plant growth and also provides protection against different plant pathogens. The aim of this review is to
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