The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Rhizosphere Microbiome

Rhizosphere is the portion of soil that is exposed to the root activity. It is hot spot for microbial activities which support the plant growth and development in different ways. Microbial communities in the rhizosphere referred as rhizosphere microbiome are one of the most diverse regions of the ecosystem existing on Earth. Rhizosphere microbiome is biologically the most diverse part of the ecosystem which contains a large number of microbial communities which interact with the plants differently like the good, the bad, and the ugly microbes of rhizosphere. The good ones are beneficial microbes of the rhizosphere which are involved in plant growth promotion through nutrient uptake in plants, antagonism to plant pathogens, and plant tolerance against abiotic stresses. However, the bad ones are plant parasitic fungi and nematodes which cause diseases of economic importance in important crop plants and result in serious issues of reduction in productivity and food security. Similarly, some rhizosphere microbes avail the opportunity to invade the human body through different courses and cause infectious diseases. These opportunistic microbes are “the ugly” ones as they are the most deleterious in nature. In this chapter, we have discussed in detail the good, the bad, and the ugly members of rhizosphere microbiome. Moreover, we have given a comprehensive account of bolts and nuts of rhizosphere and engineering of rhizosphere for agriculturally sustainability.