Abstract

Plant health is one of the primary limiting factors for agricultural productivity and food security. With the recent scenario of climate change, crop plants are more frequently subjected to stresses of both biotic and abiotic origin resulting in alteration of cropping seasons, crop diversity, site composition, and changes in plant physiology. Therefore, several strategies are being used to manage such stresses. These include the usage of synthetic or inorganic compounds which are highly polluting, hazardous and costly, thus; there is an urgent need to develop natural products, less hazardous, cheaper and easily available and sustainable. In this perpetual quest for solutions, researchers have thought it wise to exploit some beneficial microorganisms with ability to improve the disease resistance mechanism of the plant natural defence system. In this chapter authors have focused their attention on the role of microorganism in the management of biotic and abiotic stresses in plants by summarizing current information, covering all aspects of plant stresses, and further discussed the important mechanisms used by microbes in mitigating these stresses.

Keywords: Micro-organisms; Plant health; Abiotic stress; Biotic stress