Abstract

Over the past few years, the intricate association between the plants and microorganisms has uncovered the crucial role of microbial communities in plant growth promotion and maintaining soil fertility, ultimately supporting sustainable agriculture. Plant microbiome comprises bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoans, and archaea, colonizing multiple tissues in the rhizosphere, phyllosphere, and endosphere. These microbes help in plant growth directly by acquiring the nutrients. Furthermore, these beneficial microbes also prime the immune response of the plant, protecting it from biotic and abiotic stresses. The multi-omics techniques have paved the way in understanding the genotypic-specific nature of the phyto-microbiome and its regulation by abiotic factors. Plant-microbiome engineering in relation to synthetic microbial communities delivered predictable and consistent functional performance. Targeted deployment of these microbial communities promotes functional stability over single-strain inoculants. Despite major progress, insufficient field-level validation, host-microbiome compatibility constraints, and regulatory ambiguities restrict their broader application. This review examines plant-microbiome functionality, emphasizes their role in reducing chemical dependency, and presents an integrative framework bridging microbiome science with sustainable farming systems.

Key words: Endosphere, Microbial biocontrol agents, Phyllosphere, Plant-microbiome, Plant disease suppression, Rhizosphere, Sustainable agriculture