Prospects of fungal endophytes for stress mitigation in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Fungal endophytes are highly diverse in their functions and impart functional advantage to the host plants. Application of fungal endophytes is gaining relevance in field of agriculture as an ecofriendly approach and means of reducing pesticide application in crop plants. Rice production is known to be affected by both biotic and abiotic stresses and application of microbes could be one of the means of reducing the stresses. Fungal endophytes are isolated and studied from various parts of rice plants and they are reported to be involved in improving the growth and reducing various stresses during plant growth. This review discusses about relevance and potential of fungal endophytes in rice on mitigating various stresses like drought, salinity, heat, heavy metals and biotic elements such as diseases and pests.