Integrating plant microbiome for resilient agriculture and a sustainable environment

This review explores how plants recruit beneficial microbiomes to mitigate abiotic stresses and evaluates practical interventions like synthetic communities and host-mediated engineering to enhance agricultural resilience.

Alexandre Pedrinho; L. W. Mendes; T. Pellegrinetti; A. S. F. Araujo; Arthur Prudêncio de Araújo Pereira; B. Singh· Plant and Soil· 2026· DOI 10.1007/s11104-026-08578-5

The core problem

Agricultural systems face unprecedented threats from climate change-induced environmental stresses such as drought, salinity, and heatwaves. These stresses limit crop productivity, degrade soil health, and threaten global food security, highlighting the urgent need for innovative and sustainable solutions. Harnessing soil and plant-associated microbiomes offers transformative potential to enhance plant resilience and sustainability. However, translating lab-based plant-microbiome research into scalable agricultural applications remains a significant challenge. This review addresses this gap by examining the dynamic interplay between plants and their microbiomes under abiotic stresses.

Innovation

The authors conducted a comprehensive review of existing literature on plant-microbiome interactions under abiotic stress conditions. They focused on mechanisms by which plants recruit and modulate microbial communities in the rhizosphere, phyllosphere, and endosphere. The review conceptualizes how environmental abiotic stresses alter plant-microbe interactions and evaluates practical interventions for stress mitigation. Key interventions assessed include synthetic microbial communities (SynComs), host-mediated microbiome engineering (HMS), and metabolites. The methodology involves synthesizing findings from lab-based studies and identifying challenges for field application.

Introduction

Agricultural systems face unprecedented threats from climate change-induced environmental stresses such as drought, salinity, and heatwaves. These stresses limit crop productivity, degrade soil health, and threaten global food security, highlighting the urgent need for innovative and sustainable solutions. Harnessing soil and plant-associated microbiomes offers transformative potential to enhance plant resilience and sustainability. However, translating lab-based plant-microbiome research into scalable agricultural applications remains a significant challenge. This review addresses this gap by examining the dynamic interplay between plants and their microbiomes under abiotic stresses.

Why it matters

The authors discuss that bridging lab discoveries with field success requires overcoming scientific and translational challenges. They advocate for systems-based approaches integrating plant and microbiome engineering, metabolic and genetic innovations, agronomic practices, and policy frameworks. Key research gaps identified include long-term ecological impacts and optimization of microbiome-host compatibility. The review emphasizes that interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial to accelerate adoption of sustainable tools. By integrating cutting-edge science with scalable solutions, plant-microbiome interactions can significantly contribute to climate-smart agriculture and ecosystem resilience in an era of global change.

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