This review presents a comprehensive and systematic study of the field of bacterial plant biostimulants and considers the fundamental and innovative principles underlying this technology. Plant biostimulants are an important tool for modern agriculture as part of an integrated crop management (ICM) system, helping make agriculture more sustainable and resilient. Plant biostimulants contain substance(s) and/or microorganisms whose function when applied to plants or the rhizosphere is to stimulate natural processes to enhance plant nutrient uptake, nutrient use efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, biocontrol, and crop quality. The use of plant biostimulants has gained substantial and significant heed worldwide as an environmentally friendly alternative to sustainable agricultural production. At present, there is an increasing curiosity in industry and researchers about microbial biostimulants, especially bacterial plant biostimulants (BPBs), to improve crop growth and productivity. The BPBs that are based on PGPR (plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria) play plausible roles to promote/stimulate crop plant growth through several mechanisms that include (i) nutrient acquisition by nitrogen (N₂) fixation and solubilization of insoluble minerals (P, K, Zn), organic acids and siderophores; (ii) antimicrobial metabolites and various lytic enzymes; (iii) the action of growth regulators and stress-responsive/induced phytohormones; (iv) ameliorating abiotic stress such as drought, high soil salinity, extreme temperatures, oxidative stress, and heavy metals by using different modes of action; and (v) plant defense induction modes. Presented here is a brief review emphasizing the applicability of BPBs as an innovative exertion to fulfill the current food crisis.

Soil potassium (K) supplement depends intensively on the application of chemical fertilizers, which have substantial harmful environmental effects. However, some bacteria can act as inoculants by converting unavailable and insoluble K forms into plant-accessible forms. Such bacteria are an eco-friendly approach for enhancing plant K absorption and consequently reducing utilization of chemical fertilization. Therefore, the present research was undertaken to isolate, screen, and characterize the K solubilizing bacteria (KSB) from the rhizosphere soils of northern India. Overall, 110 strains were isolated, but only 13 isolates showed significant K solubilizing ability by forming a halo zone on solid media. They were further screened for K solubilizing activity at 0 °C, 1 °C, 3 °C, 5 °C, 7 °C, 15 °C, and 20 °C for 5, 10, and 20 days. All the bacterial isolates showed mineral K solubilization activity at these different temperatures. However, the content of K solubilization increased with the upsurge in temperature and period of incubation. The isolate KSB (Grz) showed the highest K solubilization index of 462.28% after 48 h of incubation at 20 °C. The maximum of 23.38 µg K/mL broth was solubilized by the isolate KSB (Grz) at 20 °C after 20 days of incubation. Based on morphological, biochemical, and molecular characterization (through the 16S rDNA approach), the isolate KSB (Grz) was identified as Mesorhizobium sp. The majority of the strains produced HCN and ammonia. The maximum indole acetic acid (IAA) (31.54 µM/mL) and cellulase (390 µM/mL) were produced by the isolate KSB (Grz). In contrast, the highest protease (525.12 µM/mL) and chitinase (5.20 µM/mL) activities were shown by standard strain Bacillus mucilaginosus and KSB (Gmr) isolate, respectively.

This review presents a comprehensive and systematic study of the field of bacterial plant biostimulants and considers the fundamental and innovative principles underlying this technology. Plant biostimulants are an important tool for modern agriculture as part of an integrated crop management (ICM) system; helping make agriculture more sustainable and resilient. Plant biostimulants contain substance(s) and/or microorganisms whose function when applied to plants or the rhizosphere, is to stimulate natural processes to enhance plant nutrient uptake, nutrient use efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, biocontrol, and crop quality. The use of plant biostimulants has gained substantial and significant heed worldwide as an environment-friendly alternative for sustainable agricultural production. Presently, there is an increasing curiosity of industry and researchers in microbial biostimulants especially, bacterial plant biostimulants (BPBs) to improve crop growth and productivity. The BPBs that are based on PGPR (plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria) play plausible roles to promote/stimulate the crop plant growth through several mechanisms that include, i) nutrient acquisition by nitrogen (N₂) fixation and solubilization of insoluble minerals (P, K, Zn), organic acids and siderophores, ii) antimicrobial metabolites and various lytic enzymes, iii) action of growth regulators and stress-responsive/induced phytohormones, iv) ameliorating abiotic stress like drought, high soil salinity, extreme temperatures, oxidative stress, and heavy metals by using different modes of action, and v) plant defense induction modes. Presenting here is a brief review emphasizing the applicability of BPBs as an innovative exertion to fulfill the current food crisis.

There is an immense demand for vermicomposting employing psychrophilic vermiculture (Aporrectodea caliginosa) for management of wastes under the Himalayan ecosystem. Dalweed (weeds from the world-famous urban Dal Lake) and cow manure (CM) are cheaply and abundantly available bio resources in Kashmir valley. Dalweed (DW), disposed of in the heart of the city, ascribes unpleasant effects on tourism and the natural ecosystem. Initial substrate mixtures of DW and CM with different ratios (CM₁₀₀, DW₁₀₀, CM₈₀:DW₂₀, CM₆₀:DW₄₀, CM₄₀:DW₆₀ and CM₂₀:DW₈₀) and castings harvested were analyzed for the following parameters: pH, TOC, TN, NO₃^- P, K, Fe, Zn, C:N, C:P, and C:S ratio. The results of a 56day study revealed in consistency and disparity towards the bio-optimization of coprolites depending upon the type of waste residue and mixture ratio used. Treatments with medium to low dalweed residues (CM₆₀:DW₄₀ followed by CM₈₀:DW₂₀) were found to be optimum and significantly primed chemical properties of castings using A. caligenosa. C:N, C:P, and C:S ratios showed a non-linear response with maximum decrease in C:N ratio by 35%, C:P ratio by 38% in CM₁₀₀, and C:S ratio by 67% in DW₁₀₀. Humification ratio, humification index, and percent humic acids were changed across all the treatments with the highest respective values of 21.33 ± 1.05, 11.33 ± 0.76, and 47.83 ± 0.76 for CM₆₀:DW₄₀. Results also showed that the earthworm population and biomass significantly increased with the highest respective increments of 57.53% and 74.88% in CM₆₀:DW₄₀ over initial values. Moreover, the highest number of cocoons (95.67 ± 1.17) were recorded within CM₆₀:DW₄₀ and the lowest in the control (43.33 ± 1.53). Dehydrogenase and fluorescein diacetate activities were inconsistent with the highest in CM₄₀:DW₆₀ (64.64%) and CM₂₀:DW₈₀ (63.54%) respectively over the initial substrates, while highest urease activity (74.40%) was observed from CM₁₀₀. The results highlight the role of A. caliginosa in sustainable transformation of CM and DW with insightful, beneficial, and priming impacts on castings for its agronomic value.

Good soil can raise the quantity and quality of food. However, the land quality has worsened due to various anthropogenic activities. The present study aimed to assess the effects of land use systems on soil quality over time through specific indicators. A top 30 cm soil sample from six land uses (forest, pasture, orchard, vegetable, maize, and paddy) was analyzed for soil quality index using Principal Component Analysis. The results revealed the highest organic carbon (20.94±1.85 g kg-1), N (537.50±16.7 kg ha-1), and P2O5 (36.51±1.62 kg ha-1) in paddy-based land uses while the minimum OC (8.63±1.23 g kg-1), N (290.30±1.8 kg ha-1) and K2O (201.36±6.2 kg ha-1) respectively with lowest P2O5 (24.22±1.21 kg ha-1) in maize. The forest system showed dense macrofauna (1498 ind. m-2). The microbial population was found in the order of paddy>maize>vegetable>apple>pasture>forest. Particle size distribution of studied land uses varied from silty loam to clay loam. The following order of soil quality: forest>pasture>apple >vegetable>maize>paddy was found after the indexing procedure. It is concluded that further extension and turning of natural forests to agriculture will lead to a more significant loss of stored carbon from soils.