Yeast a potential bio-agent: future for plant growth and postharvest disease management for sustainable agriculture

The native microbial flora and fauna are replaced by commercial chemical fertilizers and pesticides, in the current agricultural system. Imbalance of beneficial microbial diversity and natural competitors increases the severity of plant diseases. Hence, sustainable agricultural practices like bio-inoculant, stress tolerant consortium, crop rotation and mix cropping sequences is only the solution of recharging the microbial population in soils to make healthier for crop productivity and suppression of soil borne phytopathogen. Microorganisms use several direct mechanism activities, e.g. production of plant hormones (indole-3-acetic acid), ammonium, siderophore and nutrient solubilization, and indirect mechanism activities, e.g. hydrogen cyanide, chitinase, protease and antibiotic for plant growth promotion. The plant growth-promoting effect of bacteria, fungi, mycorrhizal fungi and algae is widely explored. Yeast is a single-celled microbe classified as members of the kingdom fungi. Yeast and their product use in the food industry, medical science and biotechnological research purpose but very few literatures reported that yeasts have the ability to produce a group of plant growth-promoting activities and biocontrolling activity. Therefore, the main aim of this mini review is to highlight the application of yeasts as biological agents in different sectors of sustainable farming practices.