Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are important source of life-saving drugs even after progress on synthetic substitutes. However, its yield, productivity, and quality are severely hampered by several biotic stresses such as fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and viruses. Agricultural stresses and associated therapeutic security issues need the optimization of reliability, efficient use of resources, and alleviation of the environmental impacts of herbal drug production. Several approaches may be used to manage these diseases in MAPs, e.g., synthetic/chemical, which, however, are incompetent and hazardous to the environment. Soil microbes in sustainable agriculture have provided new insights to green agro-economy and are being looked upon as an alternative tool for the management of MAPs diseases. They enhance plant health and disease eradication through various mechanisms such as induced plant defense, rhizosphere competence, and improvement of nutrition to the plant. In this chapter, we have focused on the diverse mechanisms of soil microbes in MAPs cultivation and biotic stress management by discussing present knowledge of the field, covering all aspects of biotic stress management, and further summarized essential mechanisms applied by microbes in mitigating biotic stresses.
Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are important source of life-saving drugs even after progress on synthetic substitutes. However, its yield, productivity, and quality are severely hampered by several biotic stresses such as fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and viruses. Agricultural stresses and associated therapeutic security issues need the optimization of reliability, efficient use of resources, and alleviation of the environmental impacts of herbal drug production. Several approaches may be used to manage these diseases in MAPs, e.g., synthetic/chemical, which, however, are incompetent and hazardous to the environment. Soil microbes in sustainable agriculture have provided new insights to green agro-economy and are being looked upon as an alternative tool for the management of MAPs diseases. They enhance plant health and disease eradication through various mechanisms such as induced plant defense, rhizosphere competence, and improvement of nutrition to the plant. In this chapter, we have focused on the diverse mechanisms of soil microbes in MAPs cultivation and biotic stress management by discussing present knowledge of the field, covering all aspects of biotic stress management, and further summarized essential mechanisms applied by microbes in mitigating biotic stresses.