**3. Fungal endophytes for sustainable agriculture**

In view of escalating pollution and cost due to indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides, diverted researchers interest towards alternative eco-friendly and safe approaches to meet increasing demand of agriculture productivity. Sustainable agriculture requires the use of various strategies to increase or maintain the current rate of food production while minimizing damage to the environment and human health. Symbiotic endophytic fungal associations with crops offer wide range of benefits ranging from the promotion of plant growth to improvements in the tolerance of various biotic and abiotic stresses. Moreover, loss of useful endophytic microbes from crop plants during their domestication and long term cultivation also requires transfer of endophytes from wild relatives of crops to crop species.

#### **4. Fungal endophytes: Biotic stress management**

Endophytic fungi have gained importance in the area of agriculture because of their ability to confer resistance to various biotic stress conditions like insect herbivory, nematicidal attack and by aiding plant growth processes.
