Functional Insights of Nutrients Solubilizing Extremophiles for Potential Agriculture Application

Extremophiles are organisms that can survive in what humans would consider to be ‘extreme’ environments. For several factors, conventional techniques are not suitable in situations with significant temperature and pH fluctuations, excessive salt, and so on. Extremophiles, namely, psychrophiles, acidophiles, thermophiles, and halophiles are environment-friendly, less expensive, and more effective than standard approaches since they can operate and have evolved to live in these conditions. The availability of essential plant nutrients to the plant system is hindered due to complexation, precipitation, and fixation, which is a function of soil pH. Extremophiles when interacting with the plant system make possibilities for nutrient availability under degraded soil conditions. Extremophiles also show an impact on the overexpression of antioxidative/defensive enzymes which contributed to increased salt tolerance and tissue-specific responses of ion transporters responsible for preferential uptake of K+ ions. They facilitate our understanding of the basic ideas guiding biological processes that explore the boundaries of microbial life. In this chapter, we have intended to describe the application of extremophiles as plant growth-promoting bacteria, specifically their role in nutrient acquisition for plants. The chapter discusses psychrophiles, thermophiles, acidophiles, and halophiles in solubilizing phosphorous and potassium and nitrogen fixation. The chapter has also highlighted their role in providing tolerance for plants in varying environmental conditions.