Drought stress (DS) is a serious abiotic stress and a major concern across the globe as its intensity is continuously climbing. Therefore, it is direly needed to develop new management strategies to mitigate the adverse effects of DS to ensure better crop productivity and food security. The use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) has emerged as an important approach in recent years to improve crop productivity under DS conditions. AMF establishes a relationship with 80% of land plants and it induces pronounced impacts on plant growth and provides protection to plants from abiotic stress. Drought stress significantly reduces plant growth and development by inducing oxidative stress, disturbing membrane integrity, plant water relations, nutrient uptake, photosynthetic activity, photosynthetic apparatus, and anti-oxidant activities. However, AMF can significantly improve the plant tolerance against DS. AMF maintains membrane integrity, improves plant water contents, nutrient and water uptake, and water use efficiency (WUE) therefore, improve the plant growth under DS. Moreover, AMF also protects the photosynthetic apparatus from drought-induced oxidative stress and improves photosynthetic efficiency, osmolytes, phenols and hormone accumulation, and reduces the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by increasing anti-oxidant activities and gene expression which provide the tolerance to plants against DS. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the role of AMF in plants grown under DS. This review presented the different functions of AMF in different responses of plants under DS. We have provided a detailed picture of the different mechanisms mediated by AMF to induce drought tolerance in plants. Moreover, we also identified the potential research gaps that must be fulfilled for a promising future for AMF. Lastly, nitrogen (N) is an important nutrient needed for plant growth and development, however, the efficiency of applied N fertilizers is quite low. Therefore, we also present the information on how AMF improves N uptake and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in plants.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.919166/pdf

The Critical Role of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi to Improve Drought Tolerance and Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Crops

Global climate change affects weather patterns, affecting soil salinity and drought tolerance. Crop resilience and agriculture sustainability can be enhanced by exploring soil salinity, plant drought tolerance, microbial diversity, and remediation techniques. This review examines the morpho-physiological, molecular, and genetic mechanisms underlying plant adaptation to soil salinity and drought stress. It highlights their impact on plant growth, productivity, and microbial diversity. Diverse methods are investigated to tackle soil salinity and drought stress, encompassing chemical, physical, and biological approaches. Additionally, water-efficient agricultural practices and drought-resistant crop varieties are presented as ways to increase plant tolerance to these stresses. These implications for sustainable agriculture emphasize the potential of these findings to optimize resource utilization, increase crop yield, and promote environmental sustainability. These implications for sustainable agriculture emphasize the potential of these findings to optimize resource utilization, increase crop yield, and promote environmental sustainability. The review concludes by discussing future research directions, particularly the need for more study into the molecular basis of plant-microbe interactions and stress tolerance mechanisms. By advancing our knowledge in this field, we can develop innovative solutions to mitigate soil salinity and drought stress, ensuring food security and sustainable agriculture in changing climates. 

Soil salinity and drought tolerance: An evaluation of plant growth, productivity, microbial diversity, and amelioration strategies

Use of Microbes for the Alleviation of Soil Stresses : Volume 2: Alleviation of Soil Stress by PGPR and Mycorrhizal Fungi

The substantial influence of microbes on crop growth, stress resilience, and ecological restoration has generated considerable interest due to the intricate interplay between these microorganisms and plants. This study comprehensively examines the diverse mechanisms through which microorganisms contribute to plant well-being, mitigate stress, and facilitate phytoremediation processes. Microorganisms encompassing bacteria, fungi, archaea, and viruses, have demonstrated their knack for stirring up growth-enabling hormones, activating pathways tuned to stress, and ameliorating the availability of nutrients by means of fixation and solubilization Furthermore, such microorganisms also display immense potential in the field of phytoremediation strategies by aiding plants in the extraction, alteration, and detoxification of contaminants found in both soil and water. Complementing this, these microbes enable phytoextraction, rhizofiltration, phytostabilization, and rhizodegradation, owing to their harmonious interaction with plants for the purification of tainted environments. However, it is critical to address legal issues, moral dilemmas, and potential unintended consequences as microorganisms are increasingly incorporated into ecological restoration and sustainable agriculture methods. Optimizing microbial therapies and ensuring their appropriate use offers promising insights when leveraging cutting-edge technologies like omics and genetic engineering. Coordination among academics, practitioners, and policymakers is still crucial in the quest for a more robust and peaceful coexistence between microbes, plants, and ecosystems. In a nutshell, this work highlights the pivotal role that microorganisms are poised to assume, guiding the trajectory of agriculture, alleviating stress, and fostering environmental sustainability with far-reaching implications. 

Advancing Environmental Sustainability through Microbial Reprogramming in Growth Improvement, Stress Alleviation, and Phytoremediation

Salinity is a major problem affecting crop production in many regions in the world including Morocco. Agricultural practices such as fertilization could be useful to overcome this problem and improve crop productivity. The objective of our study was to evaluate the combined effect of phosphorus fertilization and irrigation water salinity on growth, yield, and stomatal conductance of forage corn (Zea mays L.) cv. “Sy sincerro”. Field experiments were carried out for two years testing four levels of irrigation water salinity (ECw = 0.7; 2, 4, and 6 dS·m−1) and three rates of phosphorus (105, 126, and 150 kg P2O5·ha−1) fertilization conducted in a split-plot design with three replications. The obtained results show that irrigation water salinity had a negative effect on all monitored parameters. For instance, the dry matter yield reduced by an average of 19.3 % and 25.1% compared to the control under saline irrigation with an EC value equal to 4 and dS·m−1, respectively. The finding also showed that phosphorus applications tend to increase root weight, root length, stem length, leaf stomatal conductance, grain yield and dry matter yield under salinity conditions. For example, the addition of phosphorus with a rate of 126 and 150 kg P2O5·ha−1 respectively improved dry matter yield by an average of 4 and 9% under low salinity level (ECw = 2 dS·m−1), by 4 and 15% under medium salinity (4 dS·m−1), and by 6 and 8% under a high salinity level (6 dS·m−1). Our finding suggests that supplementary P application could be one of the best practices to reduce the adverse effects of high salinity on growth and development of forage corn.

Phosphorus Fertilization Enhances Productivity of Forage Corn (Zea mays L.) Irrigated with Saline Water

Soil salinization and drought are major and growing ecological problems. They limit the productivity of crop plants cultivated on more than 20% of total agricultural lands worldwide. Global climate changes and sequences of agriculture-related management practices would induce salinity to more than 50% of the arable land by 2050. Excess salt in soil impedes plant photosynthetic processes, seed germination, and root uptake of water and nutrients such as K+. Under the same soil and climate conditions, water deficiency is also one of the serious limiting factors for plant growth and food security. Application of biological processes such as mycorrhizal fungi as inoculants provide a cost-effective long-term solution for coping with saline and drought conditions. Inoculation of mycorrhizal fungi along with certain microbial strains in salt and drought-affected soils increase root infection. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are renowned for effective scavengers of free radicals in soil thereby increasing soil parameters optimal for plant growth. The mechanism to cope with drought stress involves in AMF-enhance drought and salt tolerance through direct water and nutrient uptake via extraradical hyphae, better root system architecture, enhancement of antioxidant defense systems, and greater osmotic adjustment. Mycorrhizal colonization upregulates the expression of chloroplast genes in leaves, and genes encoding membrane transport proteins involved in K+/Na+ homeostasis in roots. Mycorrhizal inoculated seedlings exhibit high root salicylic acid concentrations and lower leaf and root jasmonic acid concentrations under salt stress. The AMF improve root hydraulic conductivity as well as the plant water status and tolerance under drought stress. Essential nutrients are also taken up through mycorrhizal hyphae and differences in P and K acquisition, transpiration, and stomatal conductance are related to mycorrhizal efficiencies of different fungi. Indigenous microorganisms may be a promising biological technology to improve plant performance and development and to alleviate salt stress damage.

Do Mycorrhizal Fungi Enable Plants to Cope with Abiotic Stresses by Overcoming the Detrimental Effects of Salinity and Improving Drought Tolerance

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Do Mycorrhizal Fungi Enable Plants to Cope with Abiotic Stresses by Overcoming the Detrimental Effects of Salinity and Improving Drought Tolerance