Recent advancement of bio-inoculant consortia for sustainable crop production: a review

Abstract

The 21st century’s challenges include conventional agriculture, food security, and population growth. To alleviate these challenges, it is urgent to develop effective bio-inoculants to replace inorganic/chemical fertilizers and explore the potential of microbial consortia to improve crop resilience, soil fertility, and environmental sustainability. This review aims to explore scientific developments and its importance of bio-inoculants, the need of integrative work of different stakeholders to commercialize bio-inoculants in the near future. In this reviews, role of bio-inoculants in the context of climate change, soil microbes and their mechanisms of action in stimulating plants, bio-inoculant consortium vs. single-strain bio-inoculants, genetic engineering approaches in bio-inoculant development, optimization and field application of bio-inoculant consortia, applications and benefits of microbial consortia, genetic engineering approaches in bio-inoculant development are discussed as part of future perspectives in bio-inoculant consortia technology breakthrough. Furthermore, challenges for the development of effective bio-inoculant consortia are discussed. By addressing such challenges, microbial consortia in plant care and protection are a promising element, offering innovative solutions for sustainable agriculture. To achieve this, it requires integrative action among research institutions, researchers, consumers, government bodies, policymakers, non-governmental organizations, media funding organizations, and billionaires, as well as UN organizations, to scale up mass production and disseminate it to consumers. This can aid in creating climate-smart agricultural ecosystems in tolerating environmental variation and population pressure.