Reshaping the Plant Microbiomes for Sustainable Disease Management

Abstract

Extensive farming usually depends on the use of chemicals to mitigate crop losses from diseases; however, sustainable alternatives have been getting popular as they are our only hope for the future. The plant microbiome, especially the microbial communities in the rhizosphere and endosphere, is a line of research that indicates how disease resistance can be improved through the microbiome of the root while, at the same time, environmental sustainability is being promoted. Plant root exudates are the leading impetus for diversity and favor the host plant between these microbial populations. They contribute to the plant growth development, as well as strengthening the plant's mechanisms to resist biotic and abiotic stresses. Microbes in the rhizosphere and endospores trigger the mechanism to increase plant resistance to diseases, such as the induction of systemic resistance and the production of siderophores, secondary metabolites, and antimicrobial compounds. This review highlights the possibility of converting the plant microbiome into a new program for sustainable disease management by going deeper into the complex relations between different plants and their related microbiomes. A lack of understanding of these microbiome dynamics remains the main bottleneck to precise microbiome-based interventions. Yet, there is a ray of hope for microbiome-engineering-based interventions to our environmental issues and economically unstable plant disease management in modern agriculture.