Potential of Purple Non-Sulfur Bacteria in Sustainably Enhancing the Agronomic and Physiological Performances of Rice

• Published in: Agronomy (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 10; p. 2347
• Main Authors: Sundar, Laurence Shiva, Chao, Yun-Yang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.10.2022
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Agrochemicals; Bacteria; Carbon dioxide; Carbon sequestration; Cereal crops; Climate change; Contamination; Crop production; Crop yield; Crop yields; Crops; Emissions; Fertilizers; Heavy metals; Hunger; Methane; Natural resources; Pesticides; photosynthetic bacteria; Physiological aspects; Plant growth; purple non-sulfur bacteria; Reviews; Rice; Rice fields; Soil fertility; Sulfur; Sulfur bacteria; Sulfur compounds; Sustainability; Sustainability management; Sustainable agriculture; Sustainable development; Sustainable practices; Tubers; Weather
• ISSN: 2073-4395; 2073-4395
• DOI: 10.3390/agronomy12102347

Cereal grains and tubers are among the highly consumed staple foods globally; however, due to unfavorable weather conditions and the competition for natural resources, the major staple cereal crops, such as rice, are under production threat. On the other hand, the overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase crop yield is deteriorating the growing environment for plants and animals, including humans. As such, sustainable management practices are the key method that can be employed to increase crop production without harming the environment. Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), such as the purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB), have recently gained much attention in crop production due to their ability to accumulate higher-value compounds that are highly beneficial to crops. Some of the major benefits PNSB holds are that it can fix atmospheric nitrogen, solubilize phosphate, remediate heavy metals, suppress methane emissions from waterlogged paddy fields, and assist in carbon sequestration. These benefits allow PNSB to be an important bacterium for improving plant growth and yield much more sustainably while benefiting the environment. This review article discusses the beneficial effects of PNSB on rice crop plants through careful screening of previous work in this area. The review also identifies the research gaps and suggests future research pathways to make PNSB an important bacteria for sustainable rice crop production. The review paper aims for the United Nation’s sustainable development goal number two, “Zero Hunger,” target 2.4, indicator 2.4.1, “Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture”.