AM Fungi as a Potential Biofertilizer for Abiotic Stress Management

*Malik A. Aziz, Shayesta Islam, Gousia Gani, Zaffar M. Dar, Amajad Masood and Syed H. Baligah*

## **Abstract**

Climate change and agricultural practices like unrestricted utilization of insecticides especially fertilizer and pesticides have amplified the effects of inanimate stress on the productivity of crops and degraded the environment. The need of the hour is to adopt eco-friendly crop management techniques, including the usage of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). AMFs are frequently referred to as bio-fertilizers. Mycorrhiza improves the movement and absorption of nutrients from soils, thereby limiting the demand for artificial fertilizers and avoiding the accretion of nutrients in soil. Reduced fertilizer use reduces the effects of fertilizer runoff and leaching on water quality and serves as a cost-effective method for farmers. Inanimate stressors (such as salt, drought, heat, cold, and mineral shortage) have emerged as the most serious dangers to global agricultural productivity. These stresses induce ion toxicity nutritional imbalance, hormonal inequalities which in turn influence plant growth and development, maturity, productivity etc. Some beneficial microorganisms, such as mycorrhizal fungi, live in mutualistic association with the roots of host plant in the rhizospheric region. Mycorrhiza significantly improves host plant resilience to a variety of animate and inanimate stresses. This chapter emphasizes the relevance of mycorrhizal fungi in stress reduction and their beneficial impacts on plants' production, growth and enlargement.

**Keywords:** arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, plant growth, abiotic stresses, drought, salinity, temperature
