Plant Growth-Promoting Psychrotrophic Microbes: Current Research and Future Challenges

Food production should be raised to keep up with the growing world population, yet not at the expense of the environment by reducing the use of agrochemicals. This key insight has encouraged the development of microorganisms as cost- and sustainably-efficient substitutes for these dangerous compounds. Ecosystems with a preference for low temperatures are home to psychrophiles and psychrotrophs. Also, they serve as study models for the metabolites and biomolecules connected to low-temperature survival that are beneficial to several sectors. Biological nitrogen fixation, or siderophore, HCN, and ammonia synthesis are only a few of the secondary metabolites that plant growth-promoting bacteria employ directly or indirectly to benefit the plant. The low temperatures and less fertile soil provide various difficulties for agriculture in high-altitude soils. During the past few decades, a variety of strategies have been used to address this issue, including the employment of psychrophilic or psychrotrophic organisms. These microbial inoculants can therefore successfully help mountain agro-systems to fight the severity of cold settings and encourage plant development. A wide variety of psychrotrophic microbiomes have been created as a result of exploration of cold environments over time. Despite facing many difficulties, the resulting bacterial diversity from the cold environment has the potential to act as a large reservoir for bio-inoculants that have the ability to promote plant growth. This could be used to enhance the growth and yield of crops grown at high altitudes, where low temperatures are the norm.