The major global challenge in the present scenario is to provide nutritional
security to the growing population without affecting the ecosystem or the environment.
Crop productivity mainly suffers because of various pests, diseases, and other problems
caused by the use of pesticides during the management. Pesticide residue is now being
considered as more detrimental to human health. Hence to overcome these biotic
problems, the use of biological organisms such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF),
Trichoderma spp., plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and endophytes are
gaining popularity to achieve sustainable agriculture. Still, many microorganisms
should be identified in order to know their ecological significance. The proper selection
and the application of the microbes have huge potential to safeguard our food and
environment. Furthermore, novel and modern techniques like clustered regularly
interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/Cas), transcriptomics, proteomics,
genomics, etc., can be exploited for the sustainability of the crop ecosystem. The
microorganisms can be improved by gene engineering techniques, which will improve
the overall health of the plants. Thus, this chapter presents a brief overview of recent
trends in the application of various microbial interactions with the twenty-first century
technology for crop productivity and the overall sustainability of our agricultural
ecosystem for our future generation.
Keywords: Bio-priming, Endophytes, Mycoherbicides, Microorganisms, Rhizosphere, Secondary metabolites.