Current Advances in Microbial Consortia of Actinobacteria and PGPR to Improve Crop Resilience and Soil Fertility in Salinity Degraded Soils

Abstract

Salinity-driven land degradation presents a growing threat to global agriculture, impairing soil fertility and plant productivity. Literature consistently highlights Actinobacteria and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) as promising biological agents for improving crop tolerance to salt stress. While many studies have examined the impacts of individual strains or isolated stress conditions, comparatively fewer have evaluated the efficacy of Actinobacteria PGPR consortia across realistic gradients of salinity, diverse crops, and heterogeneous soil environments. In this study, we assess the synergistic benefits of microbial consortia, observing improved germination, biomass accumulation, and root development, suggesting a dual role in crop resilience and the rehabilitation of degraded soils. With the integration of emerging multi-omics approaches such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, future research can unravel the complex networks underpinning plant–microbe interactions, identify key stress-adaptive genes, and pave the way for precisely engineered bioinoculants tailored to crop and agroclimatic contexts. This review presents recent findings and conceptual advancements related to Actinobacteria and PGPR under salinity stress.