Halophilic Bacteria: Potential Bioinoculants for Sustainable Agriculture and Environment Management Under Salt Stress

Salinity is one of the most critical environmental constraints which cause soil degradation and hampering agricultural production throughout the world. In the present time, a total 831 million hectares of land is affected by salinity. The salinity affects the processes in plant life from its germination to maturation stage. Regulation of phytohormones, root/shoot development, nutrient uptake, and photosynthesis are severely affected by salt stress and ultimately reduce agricultural productions. The loss of agriculture production due to salinization is one of the major constraints to feed to the growing population. High salt levels in the soil limit its agroecological potential and represent a considerable ecological and socioeconomic threat to sustainable development. In this context, the use of halophilic bacteria has been gained a great interest in eco-friendly and sustainable agriculture approach with emphasis on plant growth promotion in salt stress. This chapter paid attention to the use of halophilic bacteria in agriculture system toward producing salt stress-tolerant crops and an understanding the mechanisms of plant and halophilic bacterial interaction. Halophilic bacteria help plants to cope with salinity by supporting them in the restoration of essential activities such as nutrient uptake efficiency, ROS scavenging, and phytohormone production. The second part of this chapter describes different enzymatic potentials of halophilic bacteria and their uses in food processing, industrial bioconversions, and bioremediation. After that, a brief outline of characterization of halophilic bacteria by phenotypic, biochemical, chemotaxonomy, and molecular methods is discussed. The exploitation of halophilic bacteria in agriculture is required for environment and human welfare.