Vol. 9, Special Issue 9, Part P (2025)

The growing global population and decreasing resource constraints pose a daunting challenge for sustainable food production and plant stress reduction, particularly in developing countries. The soil microbiome is crucial to the functioning and resilience of agricultural ecosystems, helping with activities including organic matter decomposition, nitrogen cycling, and plant growth promotion. However, the soil microbiome is continually challenged by different environmental challenges, including drought, heavy metal contamination, salt, and climate change, which can drastically disturb the fragile equilibrium of the soil ecosystem. To improve plant growth and minimise negative environmental impacts, these microbes use a number of direct and indirect processes, such as phytohormone regulation, nutrient solubilisation, stress-alleviating enzyme production and antimicrobial chemical creation. Integrating microbial solutions into agricultural systems is an eco-friendly technique for revitalising soils, increasing crop yields and ensuring agricultural sustainability amid environmental difficulties. The current review highlighted the present understanding of various soil microbial sources and their roles in productivity and stress mitigation in crop plants.