Role of Microbiome on Healthy Growth and Yield of Rice Plant

Nowadays, rice cultivation is the world’s most vital economic activity. It is one of the three major food crops worldwide and the most vital staple food in Asia. In many countries, the trend of rice production is relatively constant over the years despite the growing population and makes it inadequate to fulfil the domestic demand. In modern agriculture practices, addition of chemical fertilizers is the most common approach to provide adequate nitrogen to rice plants. Even though there is a significant increase in productivity and yield of rice crop, nonetheless, continued reliance on chemical fertilizers in rice production has caused remarkable issues in soil health as well as water pollution. Therefore, biofertilizers are recommended to reduce the extensive use of agrochemicals for sustainable rice production concomitant with the reduction of harmful effect on soil microbiota and thus enhance the soil fertility. A recent interest in the rice microbiome has emerged in order to comprehend the correlation between beneficial microbes and healthy plant growth. These include the study of both microbes inside the plant as well as in the rhizosphere. These microbes not only provide sufficient nutrients but also can act as natural biocontrol agents to reduce pathogenic attack without addition of toxic pesticides and fungicides. In this chapter, recent development on rice microbiome research will be presented with special focus on the plant microbe signalling and metabolites which promote healthy growth of plant.