Sustainable Development and Biodiversity Volume 27 Series Editor Kishan Gopal Ramawat Botany Department, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, India Sustainable Development Goals are best achieved by mechanisms such as research, innovation, and knowledge sharing. This book series aims to help researchers by reporting recent progress and providing complete, comprehensive, and broad subject-based reviews about all aspects of sustainable development and ecological biodiversity. The series explores linkages of biodiversity with delivery of various ecosystem services and it offers a discourse in understanding the biotic and abiotic interactions, ecosystem dynamics, biological invasion, ecological restoration and remediation, diversity of habitats and conservation strategies. It is a broad scoped collection of volumes, addressing relationship between ecosystem processes and biodiversity. It aims to support the global efforts towards achieving sustainable development goals by enriching the scientific literature. The books in the series brings out the latest reading material for botanists, environmentalists, marine biologists, conservationists, policy makers and NGOs working for environment protection. We welcome volumes on the themes – Agroecosystems, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Biodiversity conservation, Conser- vation of ecosystem, Ecosystem, Endangered species, Forest conservation, Genetic diversity, Global climate change, Hotspots, Impact assessment, Invasive species, Livelihood of people, Plant biotechnology, Plant resource utilization, Sustainability of the environment, Sustainable management of forests, Sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems and plants, Traditional methods, Urban horticulture. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11920 Ajar Nath Yadav Editor Soil Microbiomes for Sustainable Agriculture Functional Annotation Editor Ajar Nath Yadav Department of Biotechnology Eternal University Baru Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India ISSN 2352-474X ISSN 2352-4758 (electronic) Sustainable Development and Biodiversity ISBN 978-3-030-73506-7 ISBN 978-3-030-73507-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73507-4 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Foreword by Davinder Singh Microbes are ubiquitous in the environment and can survive in most habitats. They play a major role in the ecosystem and are even excellent for plant growth promotion for agro-environmental sustainability. It is expected that the fast-growing world popu- lation will make food security a big issue in the future. Agricultural sustainability is facing to be a formidable task by using chemical-based fertilizers and pesticides in order to increase the yield of the crop plants. To fulfill the increasing demand of food supply with the problems like shrinking farmlands, and global warming is one of the major challenges. The soil microbiome has found diverse and complex habitats, which consist of billions of bacteria, fungi, and other living organisms. Beneficial microbes play an essential role in nutrient cycling and plant shielding from destructive effects of biotic and abiotic stresses. Intensive farming practices lead to an increase in crop production, but they also have detrimental effects on the biolog- ical and physiological properties of soils. The macronutrients for plant growth are generally provided via chemical fertilizers. In comparison to chemical and synthetic fertilizers, biofertilizers and biopesticides improve plant growth and crop produc- tivity in an eco-friendly way. Along with plant growth promotion, beneficial microbes v vi Foreword by Davinder Singh could be used for mitigation of diverse abiotic stresses using diverse plant growth- promoting mechanisms such as fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, solubilization of macronutrients (phosphorus, potassium, and zinc) and micronutrients (magnesium, selenium), production of ACC deaminase, antagonistic substances, plant growth hormones (auxin, cytokinin, and gibberellins), and siderophores (iron chelators). Thus, using beneficial soil microbiomes for sustainable agriculture is gaining vast attention worldwide. I recommend this book to researchers and students working on the emerging and fascinating field of microbiology, biotechnology, and related subjects. The book will advance the knowledge to a greater extent in these areas with significant broader research on soil microbial communities and their biotechnological role for agricul- tural sustainability. The editor of this book deserves credit for such a splendid and innovative contribution to microbiology research. Dr. Davinder Singh Vice Chancellor Eternal University, Baru Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India Foreword by Amrik Singh Ahluwalia Microbes are the hidden wonders of the planet Earth that stuns humans with their diversity, habitats, and functional capabilities. Archaea, bacteria, and fungi are the three major microbial domains that comprise millions of microbes that are present in various habitats like soil, water, air, plant, and animal externals and irrefutably play various roles. Among all habitats, the soil is the one habitat that is known to comprise a large portion of microbial diversity and these microbes are believed to play a large number of ecosystem processes. Nitrogen fixation, carbon cycling, phos- phorus cycling, weathering of rocks, decomposition of dead, and decay matter are some of the roles that soil microbes play in the ecosystem. The functional annotation of microbes could be advantageous to many sectors including the agriculture envi- ronment and industry. Nowadays, plant growth-promoting microbes as biofertilizers and biopesticides are known as the sustainable input that enhances crop produc- tivity and soil fertility. Soil microbes undergo different mechanisms to improve crop productivity like solubilization of micro- and macronutrients, fixation of nitrogen, chelation, and mitigation of biotic and abiotic stress. vii viii Foreword by Amrik Singh Ahluwalia The present book Soil Microbiomes for Sustainable Agriculture: Functional Anno- tation is to provide the recent advances in mechanisms of plant growth promotion and applications of soil microbiomes for mitigation of different abiotic stresses in plants. The proposed book encompasses current knowledge of soil microbiomes and their potential biotechnological applications for plant growth, crop yield, and soil health under the natural as well as harsh environmental conditions for sustain- able agriculture. The book volume comprises 19 chapters. The Chap. 1 by Bose et al. describes the soil microbiomes, their beneficial attributes of the plant growth promotion, and potential applications in agriculture, whereas Mokrani and Nabti highlight diverse soil microbial communities from different crops and their roles for crop productivity in Chap. 2. Chapter 3 by Boroujeni et al. describes soil microbes with multifarious plant growth-promoting attributes for enhanced production of food crops. Chapter 4 by Emami-Karvani and Chitsaz-Esfahani highlights the mecha- nisms, recent advancement, and future challenge of phosphorus solubilizing micro- biomes. Berde et al. describe potassium solubilization, its mechanism, and functional impact on plant growth in Chap. 5. In Chap. 6, Kumar et al. have given the details about soil microbiomes with siderophores production and zinc solubilizing attributes for cereals biofortification. Jatav et al. highlights the diverse soil microbes for plant growth promotion and mitigation of abiotic stress of drought in Chap. 7. In Chap. 8, Maitra et al. describe the current status and future outlook of mitigation of heat stress by thermotolerant soil microbes. Mukhtar et al. highlight the potential applications of halophilic soil microbes for the mitigation of salt stress in Chap. 9. Jha et al. explain the role of psychrotrophic soil microbes in the alleviation of cold stress in plants in Chap. 10. Mitigation strategies for abiotic stress tolerance in plants through stress-tolerant PGP microbes have been described by Dhevagi et al. in Chap. 11. Chapter 12 by Maitra et al. describes the omics strategies for abiotic stress responses and microbe-mediated mitigation in plants.