Microbial strategies for the improvement of legume production in hostile environments

Crop loss due to salinity and drought is a major area of concern in view of increasing food requirements for human populations. Legumes are very important constituents of human and animal nutrition, but are known to be salt-sensitive. Differences in salt tolerance exist within genotypes. The selection of improved chickpea cultivars with salt-tolerant symbioses is an absolute necessity to enable chickpea cultivation in salt-affected soils. The utilization of root-associated microorganisms that improve plant growth and alleviate stress factors opens a new area of technology for combating salinity, and improving crop productivity. This chapter examines recent studies of the impact of salt and drought stresses on legumes and genotypic variation among legumes for germination, seedling establishment and other plant traits under hostile conditions as well as microbial technologies that improve growth, development and symbiotic performance of legumes. In addition, we describe some possible mechanisms of plant resistance to stress, growth stimulation and improved symbiotic performance by rhizobacteria.

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