Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria: dual roles in enhancing nutrition and mitigating climate-related abiotic stresses

Climatic stresses impede plant growth and development, leading to significant reductions in crop yield and biomass production. These challenges are exacerbated by global population growth and increasing desertification, which threaten global food security. Although advanced agricultural technologies, including smart irrigation systems, optimized cropping calendars, and stress-tolerant cultivars, have been developed to mitigate these stressors, their large-scale adoption remains limited due to high costs, technical complexity, and infrastructural constraints. Therefore, sustainable, eco-friendly, and cost-effective strategies are urgently required to ensure adequate crop productivity for the growing global population. At this crucial juncture, there is a pressing need to transition toward sustainable agricultural practices that strengthen plant resilience through natural and biological mechanisms. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) represent a promising biological approach for enhancing crop productivity by improving nutrient availability and mitigating the adverse effects of climate-induced abiotic and biotic stresses. This review uniquely integrates the biochemical, physiological, and molecular mechanisms of PGPR in plant nutrition and stress mitigation while critically analyzing contradictory field results and highlighting newly characterized strains and sustainable tools for climate-resilient agriculture.