The Rhizosphere Microbiome in Climate-Smart Agriculture

The escalating challenges of climate change - including prolonged droughts, soil degradation, and unpredictable growing season - demand a fundamental shift in our agricultural practices. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) aims to simultaneously increase productivity, enhance resilience, and mitigate agriculture's environmental footprint. At the heart of this transition lies a critical, yet underexplored, ally: the rhizosphere microbiome.This complex consortium of bacteria, fungi, archaea, and protists living in intimate association with plant roots is a powerhouse of ecosystem services. It is instrumental in nutrient solubilization, water uptake, and suppressing soil-borne pathogens. More importantly, the rhizosphere microbiome holds immense potential for directly addressing climate change impacts. It can enhance plant tolerance to abiotic stresses like drought, salinity, and extreme temperatures, while also playing a pivotal role in soil carbon sequestration and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.This Research Topic aims to collate cutting-edge research that illuminates the functional role of the rhizosphere microbiome in advancing the goals of CSA. We welcome original research, reviews, and perspectives that explore topics including, but not limited to:• Microbiome-Mediated Climate Resilience: Mechanisms of drought, flood, and heat stress tolerance.• Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling: The role of microbial communities in soil organic carbon stabilization and nitrous oxide mitigation.• Synergistic Plant-Microbe Interactions: Engineering the rhizosphere through host genotype selection and microbial inoculants.• Sustainable Management Practices: How regenerative agriculture, cover cropping, and reduced tillage shape functional microbiomes.• Novel Tools and Models: Integrating omics technologies and computational models to predict and manipulate microbiome functions for CSA.By dissecting these dynamic interactions, we can harness the rhizosphere microbiome to develop robust, sustainable, and climate-resilient agroecosystems for the future. Topic editors: Yuze Li, Yanyan Zhang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76518/the-rhizosphere-microbiome-in-climate-smart-agriculture