Microbial biofortification: A sustainable route to grow nutrient-rich crops under changing climate

Crop improvement programs are facing serious challenges to sustain food and more importantly nutritional demand from global population, due to changing climate. Major staple cereals provide the caloric requirement for the global population, but are poor sources of micronutrients. Besides nutritional dilution due to the yield-oriented breeding, and unprecedented increase in atmospheric CO2, altered composition of beneficial microbes in the rhizosphere is seen as a plausible reason driving low nutrient accumulation in cereals. A complex network of signalling between plant and microbes in the rhizosphere reveals extensive links between environment, microbes and crop nutrition. Despite established roles of rhizospheric microbes on crop nutrient dynamics, limited knowledge is available on the impact of climate change on rhizosphere biology and the subsequent modulation of crop nutrition. Here, we emphasize the potential role of microbes to help sustain the global nutritional demand, achieved through the development of microbiome responsive nutrient rich staple crops. To succeed in this goal, dynamics of rhizosphere biology altered by climate change factors (CO2, temperature, precipitation), farming practices and soil properties needs to be untangled and a robust research pathway established to enhance crop nutrition with microbial biofortification to ensure a sustainable route to achieve global nutritional security. •Modern cultivars of major cereal crops are poor in grain nutrients.•Climate change drivers alter rhizospheric microbial diversity and activity.•Rhizospheric microbiome regulates nutrient supply to crop under variable climate.•Favourable microbial association is vital to develop nutrient rich crops.