Agricultural production is majorly hampered by the negative impact of both
biotic and abiotic stress in most developing countries. Among abiotic stresses, soil
salinity is a major problem, affecting crop production and responsible for limiting the
growth and productivity of plants in different areas of the world due to increasing use
of poor quality of water, flooding, over-irrigation, seepage, silting, and a rising water
table. In agriculture, salt-tolerant rhizospheric/endophytic microorganisms play an
important role in helping alleviate abiotic stresses in plants. Under plant-microbe
interactions, plant root-associated microbes, including endophytes, closely interact and
cooperate with plants, and mediate important physiological and metabolic processes,
thereby enhancing the plant’s tolerance to salinity stress. Several mechanisms have
been developed for microbial alleviation of salinity stress in plants, including the
production of phytohormones, improving plant nutrient status, production of ACC
deaminase, salt exclusion, and enhancing resistance to drought in plant cells. A wide
range of micro-organisms are available that have diverse mechanisms for salt stress
alleviation in plants. Future research needs to be directed towards field evaluation for
the validation of the potential microbes.
Keywords: Mechanism of stress alleviation, Plant-microbe interaction, Soil salinity, Salt stress, Salt stress alleviation.
