Pseudomonas Species in Soil as a Natural Resource for Plant Growth Promotion and Biocontrol Characteristics - An Overview

Abstract

Plant growth-promoting Pseudomonads regulate plant growth by severaldirect and indirect mechanisms; direct mechanisms include producingphytohormones, increasing nutrient availability and indirect mechanismsinclude suppressing soil-borne plant pathogens by the production ofsiderophores, antibiotics, inducing systemic resistance and competingwith pathogens. Pseudomonas spp. in soil has been reported from diverseecological niches and has been well-documented as a model organismfor regulating plant growth promotion. These bacteria are endowed withtremendous genetic and metabolic diversity and serve multiple ecologicalfunctions in the soil ecosystem. This versatile genus is one of the mostcommercially exploited bacteria in agriculture. The potential of the differentspecies of Pseudomonas has not been realized sufficiently and requiresemphasis on sustainable agriculture for the benefit of humankind. Researchin the past decade has revealed that several species of Pseudomonas otherthan the common species such as P. fluorescens, P. putida, P. aeruginosa,have both plant growth promotion and biocontrol characteristics and havenot been commercially exploited. According to the recent List of Prokaryoticnames with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) there are 507 species ofPseudomonas and the present literature review brings out that 7.29% ofthem posses plant growth promotion (PGP) and biocontrol traits and thuscan be utilized as biofertilizers in the field of agriculture. The role of differentPseudomonas spp. in the supply of plant nutrients and biocontrol of soilborneplant pathogens are covered in this review.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.29321/MAJ.10.000571

Pages

1 -

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Copyright

© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Madras Agricultural Students' Union in Madras Agricultural Journal (MAJ). This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited by the user.

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