Microbiome-assisted agriculture : current knowledge and future directions

The soil, where plant roots grow, is a complex ecosystem with millions of microbial inhabitants residing in really high densities per gram of soil. These microbes, together with the functions they encode, are known as the microbiome. Plant microbiome members are as diverse as they are numerous. They can be detrimental, neutral or beneficial for their plant hosts. One of the most well-known examples of microbiome-mediated benefits to the host plants is the creation of disease suppressive soils. Plants growing on this kind of soil exhibit enhanced disease resistance against specific soilborne pathogens. Most environmental factors affecting microbiome assembly, if not all, act not only on the microbes but also on the plants and the interactions between them. For the sake of simplicity, this chapter focuses on the plant and microbe-derived assembly cues that have been proven to be directly functional in restructuring microbiome composition.