We designed this review to describe a compilation of studies to enlighten the concepts of plant–microbe interactions, adopted protocols in smart crop farming, and biodiversity to reaffirm sustainable agriculture. The ever-increasing use of agrochemicals to boost crop production has created health hazards to humans and the environment. Microbes can bring up the hidden strength of plants, augmenting disease resistance and yield, hereafter, crops could be grown without chemicals by harnessing microbes that live in/on plants and soil. This review summarizes an understanding of the functions and importance of indigenous microbial communities; host–microbial and microbial–microbial interactions; simplified experimentally controlled synthetic flora used to perform targeted operations; maintaining the molecular mechanisms; and microbial agent application technology. It also analyzes existing problems and forecasts prospects. The real advancement of microbiome engineering requires a large number of cycles to obtain the necessary ecological principles, precise manipulation of the microbiome, and predictable results. To advance this approach, interdisciplinary collaboration in the areas of experimentation, computation, automation, and applications is required. The road to microbiome engineering seems to be long; however, research and biotechnology provide a promising approach for proceeding with microbial engineering and address persistent social and environmental issues.
The world is struggling with the increasing rate at which water bodies are constantly polluted due to rapid modernization and industrialization. The different types of water contaminants include both anthropogenic and natural contaminants. Environmentalists are mainly concerned about heavy metals such as cadmium ions, as they are considered poisonous and carcinogenic even if they are present at a minimum concentration, and they are considered an immediate concern, according to the World Health Organization. Recently, many methods, such as solvent extraction, ion exchange, electrochemical precipitation, and reverse osmosis, have been developed to remove heavy metals from wastewater. These methods have been reported to be expensive and inefficient; hence, more cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative strategies are needed. Amidst these challenges, a ray of hope emerges in the form of biosorbents. These abundant, eco-friendly, and cost-efficient materials have shown promise as an alternative method for removing heavy metals from wastewater. They are equipped with functional groups that can effectively absorb metal ions onto their surfaces, offering a potential solution to our water contamination woes. This review is significant as it delves into the potential use of several biosorbents to decontaminate cadmium ions from wastewater. This review is significant as it delves into the potential use of several biosorbents to decontaminate cadmium ions from wastewater