“Next-Generation Bioformulations” for Plant Growth Promotion and Stress Mitigation: A Promising Approach for Sustainable Agriculture

The use of fertilizers and pesticides has resulted in enhanced crop productivity and disease management over the years. However, the prevalence of several abiotic and biotic stress factors has also enormously increased across diverse agroecosystems. This necessitates employing eco-friendly approaches like the application of plant growth promoting microorganisms (PGPMs) as bioinoculants for the establishment of agricultural sustainability. With conventional bioinoculants suffering from inherent limitations, efforts are underway to overcome these using novel approaches, which can lead to several beneficial impacts, ranging from plant growth promotion to stress mitigation in different crop systems. The current review focuses on the advancements made in the development of microbe-based next-generation bioformulations, using PGPMs in conjunction with several other efficacious microbial products, like metabolites, phytohormones, additives, and nanoparticles. In addition, a comparison of the limitations and advantages of both conventional and advanced next-generation bioformulations has been made. Since there is a scope for further improvement in this arena, key concerns related to the development of more effective next-generation bioformulations have been discussed. Overall, the review encompasses the recent advancements made on the various potent next-generation bioformulations developed so far, and offers deeper insights into the possible factors that can be modulated to further improve such eco-friendly products for application in diverse agricultural systems.