4. Conclusion
Drought stress is a severe environmental constraint to agricultural
productivity. PGPR plays an important role in conferring
resistance and adaptation of plants to drought stresses and have
the potential role in solving future food security issues. The interaction
between plant and PGPR under drought conditions affects
not only the plant but also changes the soil properties. The mechanisms
elicited by PGPR such as triggering osmotic response and
induction of novel genes play a vital role in ensuring plant survival
under drought stress. The development of drought tolerant
crop varieties through genetic engineering and plant breeding is
essential but it is a long drawn process, whereas PGPR inoculation
to alleviate drought stresses in plants opens a new chapter in
the application of microorganisms in dry land agriculture. Taking
the current leads available, concerted future research is needed in
terms of identification of the right kind of microbes and addressing
the issue of delivery systems and field evaluation of potential
organisms
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Science and Engineering Research
Board (SERB), Govt. of India for providing the financial assistance in
the form of “Start-Up Research Grant (Young-Scientist) - SB/YS/LS-
12/2014”.
The authors have declared no conflict of interest.