Microbe-Mediated Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) as a Strategy for Climate Change Adaptation

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Abstract
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is central to global food security, yet its production systems remain highly vulnerable to environmental pressures. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of abiotic stresses, including drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, flooding, and heavy metal toxicity, which significantly reduce global rice productivity. Conventional strategies, including breeding and genetic engineering, have improved stress tolerance; however, their effectiveness is often constrained by long development timelines, complex genetic regulation, and limited performance under multiple concurrent stresses. In this context, plant-associated microorganisms have emerged as a sustainable and promising approach to enhancing rice plant resilience. This review synthesizes current knowledge on beneficial microbes such as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), endophytes, and cyanobacteria and their roles in mediating abiotic stress tolerance in rice. These microorganisms enhance plant performance through diverse mechanisms, including modulation of phytohormone balance, improved nutrient acquisition, maintenance of ion homeostasis, activation of antioxidant defense systems, and induction of systemic tolerance. Furthermore, microbial interactions influence gene expression, signaling pathways, and epigenetic regulation, thereby strengthening plant adaptive responses to environmental stress. This review also highlights microbe-mediated mitigation of specific stresses and discusses key challenges, particularly inconsistent field performance and the complexity of plant microbiome interactions. Emerging approaches such as omics technologies, synthetic microbiome engineering, and artificial intelligence assisted microbial design offer new opportunities to improve the reliability and scalability of microbe-based strategies for climate resilient rice production.

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