Phytohormone profiles in macroalgae: A comprehensive review of biochemical diversity and plant growth-promoting effects

Harnessing halophyte phytochemicals and biostimulants to enhance crop resilience under climate stress: a comprehensive review

Global food security is increasingly compromised by the synergistic pressures of soil salinization and the climate-mediated proliferation of resilient agricultural pests and weeds. Halophytes, extremophile plants naturally adapted to high-salinity niches, represent an underexploited reservoir of bioactive compounds and microbial consortia with significant bioeconomic potential. This review synthesizes the multi-functional utility of halophyte-derived bioactive compounds in mitigating contemporary environmental stressors through two primary lenses. First, we discuss the biochemical efficacy of halophyte-derived secondary metabolites and essential oils (EOs) as sustainable biopesticides, highlighting their potency against taxa that exhibit increasing resistance to conventional synthetic inputs. Second, we evaluate the mechanistic role of halophyte-associated rhizobiomes and biostimulants in enhancing the physiological plasticity of glycophytic crops. Specifically, we detail their capacity to modulate antioxidant defense systems, maintain ion homeostasis, and alleviate osmotic stress under saline environments. Lastly, we delineate the phytochemical stability and non-target safety of halophyte plant extracts and essential oils. By synthesizing current ecotoxicological data, we illustrate how these biogenic inputs offer superior selectivity, safeguarding beneficial entomofauna and soil microbiota while maintaining high efficacy against target insect pests. By bridging the traditionally disparate domains of phytochemical pest control and rhizosphere engineering, this review proposes a holistic biotechnological paradigm. We conclude that the transition toward halophyte-based solutions offers a strategic, circular-economy pathway to stabilize food systems and safeguard public health, providing a robust bio-based alternative to synthetic agrochemicals in increasingly marginalized landscapes.

Plant–microbe interactions as drivers of sustainable agriculture: molecular mechanisms, stress mitigation, and future prospects

Plant–microbe interaction is an essential component of sustainable agriculture which promotes plant growth, improves nutrient assimilation, and enhances plant resistance to various environmental stress conditions. Beneficial microbes, such as rhizobacteria, mycorrhizal fungi, and endophytes, boost plant functions using molecular signaling, phytohormone modification, systemic resistance induction, and pathogen antagonism. The use of new multi-omics techniques has uncovered complicated communication systems mediated by root exudates, recognition via receptors and microbial community functioning. In this review, the current understanding of the molecular basis of plant–microbe associations and their roles in combating drought, salinity, temperature, and heavy metals stresses is summarized. Special attention is paid to the promising approach based on microbiome engineering, synthetic communities and next generation biofertilizers for climate-smart agriculture. The main difficulties associated with environmental fluctuations, host specificity, inconsistency at field scale, and the lack of omics and bioinoculant validation guidelines are also highlighted.

Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus as a plant growth-promoting endophyte: mechanistic insights and translational prospects for sustainable agriculture

Phytohormone and nanoparticle crosstalk as a unified mechanistic paradigm for sustainable plant stress management

Biotic and abiotic stressors, including climate crises, are affecting plants’ metabolic and developmental processes, which negatively influence crop performance and the overall resilience of agroecosystems. In response to these stressors, plants have evolved multifaceted defense mechanisms at morphological, physiological, and molecular levels. With the advent of nanotechnology, an emerging field in plant sciences, particularly in agriculture, offers sustainable solutions for the greater benefit of mankind. The potential of nanotechnology as nano-fertilizers in agriculture is immense, offering advantages such as high efficiency, eco-friendliness, and cost-effectiveness. Nanoparticles are crucial in modulating plant physiological and biochemical responses, including activating antioxidant defense mechanisms and regulating hormones. They can mitigate excessive reactive oxygen species production under severe stress, help regulate phytohormone signaling, and minimize excessive stress. However, understanding the intricate interactions between nanoparticles and phytohormone synthesis is still in its early stages. For sustainable agricultural production, it’s an urgent requirement to grasp these interactions and to track their regulatory functions to manage abiotic stress-related situations. This review explores the current status and future potential of genomic engineering to enhance abiotic stress tolerance, and the interplay between phytohormones and nanoparticles in alleviating plant stress responses in agriculture. Finally, we identify critical knowledge gaps to inform the development of future climate-smart cultivars and sustainable agricultural practices.

Emerging roles of PGPR in fruit production systems: from growth promotion to system-level regulation, a review

With the growing importance of sustainable fruit production and the increasing demand for reduced reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have attracted considerable attention as promising biological resources in orchard systems. However, current research is mainly constrained by an overreliance on single-trait interpretations of PGPR function, which cannot fully explain their performance under the complex, heterogeneous, and long-term conditions of perennial fruit production. This review provides a systematic overview of the emerging roles of PGPR in fruit production systems from a system-level perspective. Drawing on representative recent studies, this review first summarizes the shift from classical growth-promotion functions to integrated system-level regulation. It then discusses current research progress from three interrelated dimensions: rhizosphere engineering and synthetic microbiome assembly, physiological regulation of plant stress tolerance, and molecular signaling associated with induced systemic resistance. Particular emphasis is placed on key mechanisms including extracellular polymeric substance secretion, ACC deaminase activity, antioxidant regulation, hormone crosstalk, and defense priming, as well as on the role of multi-strain consortia and multi-omics approaches in linking microbial traits with host responses and rhizosphere ecological processes. This review shows that PGPR in fruit production systems function not only as direct growth promoters but also as regulators of interconnected plant–soil-microbiome processes involved in nutrient acquisition, stress adaptation, disease resistance, and fruit quality formation. Nevertheless, important limitations remain, including inconsistent field performance, weak colonization persistence, insufficient fruit tree-specific evidence, formulation difficulties, and biosafety concerns. Future research should focus on host- and environment-specific inoculant design, mechanistic validation under orchard conditions, integration of multi-omics with long-term field evaluation, and the development of persistence-oriented and safety-assessed application strategies, thereby providing a stronger theoretical and practical foundation for sustainable orchard management.

PGPR and PGPF in Horticultural Systems: Physiological Functions, Synergistic Mechanisms, and Precision Microbiome Management

: This review focuses on the synergistic roles of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and plant growth-promoting fungi (PGPF) in horticultural systems, highlighting their mechanisms from physiological functions to molecular regulation and community-level synergy. PGPR and PGPF enhance nutrient acquisition, modulate phytohormones, induce systemic resistance, and alleviate abiotic stresses through complementary pathways. At the molecular level, microbial signals trigger downstream signaling cascades, leading to transcriptional reprogramming and epigenetic priming for long-lasting stress memory. The coexistence of PGPR and PGPF can generate synergistic benefits that may outperform single strains under suitable host, microbial, and environmental conditions; however, challenges remain in strain antagonism, host genotype specificity, environmental dependence, formulation instability, and regulatory hurdles. This review provides a conceptual roadmap for precision microbiome management, shifting from empirical application toward predictive, mechanism-guided consortium design. Finally, leveraging advanced technologies (multi-omics, synthetic biology, and AI-driven modeling) together with the synergistic actions of PGPR and PGPF offers directions for achieving sustainable and climate-resilient horticulture.