8.5 Potential of Endophytic Actinobacteria for Sustainable
Agriculture
Plant growth promoting microorganisms (PGPM) have great potential to help host
plants adapt to a changing environment, since they can help plants to tolerate
stressors like extreme temperature, drought, and salinity, and thus better withstand
the challenges of climate change in agriculture (Welbaum et al. 2004 ).
Although plant growth promoting bacteria are one of the well-studied groups of
PGPM, only scanty information are focused on endophytic actinobacteria pos-
sessing plant growth promoting properties. Recentfindings demonstrated that
endophytic actinobacteria are able to enhance establishment, growth, development,
and health of agricultural crops directly via production/secretion of various regu-
latory chemicals in the vicinity of the rhizosphere, as well as indirectly via inhi-
bition of phytopathogens by producing specific chemicals (Fig.8.1).
Fig. 8.1 Role of endophytic actinobacteria in plant development and health
8 Endophytic Actinobacteria for Sustainable Agricultural Applications 175