Endophytic fungi as direct plant growth promoters for sustainable agricultural production

Current rates of population growth require the development of new agricultural strategies to feed the world human and livestock. The massive use of agricultural chemicals causes serious damage to the environment, and to human and animal health. For this reason, the use of endophytic fungi represents a biological alternative in increasing agricultural productivity in a sustainable way. This group of microorganisms, which inhabit plant tissues and organs without causing symptoms of damage, includes a great diversity of filamentous fungi and yeasts that are capable of increasing agricultural productivity. Some of the mechanisms involved in promoting plant growth by means of endophytic fungi include the increasing access to nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, iron, etc.), production of plant hormones, the ethylene amount reduction, or increase in water acquisition rate. This review tries to compile all the works carried out in the last decades on endophytic fungi use as plant growth promoters with great potential in agriculture.