Abstract Ensuring food security goals through the provision of sustainable energy and food without compromising environmental sustainability is the current requirement amid threats from climate change, uncontrolled global population, and scarcity of natural resources. Increased agricultural dependence on chemical inputs to boost food productivity has become less ecologically efficient, threatening ecological balance. The utilization of favorable soil microbes as a key substitute for chemical fertilizers can prove a potential solution to this riddle. Cyanobacteria, a group of photosynthetic prokaryotes, have been considered as potential sources of various bioenergy forms (biogas, biodiesel, and bioethanol) due to their native abilities to efficiently harvest solar energy and convert it into biomass by simple dependence on CO 2 , nutrients, and water. Efficient application of cyanobacteria can mitigate climate change by lowering the greenhouse gas emissions and bioremediation of contaminated soil and water. This article reviews specific knowledge of the ecological mechanisms, including carbon sequestration, nitrogen fixation efficiency, and soil microbial enhancement, about how these mechanisms can be further improved through the incorporation of cyanobacteria. This suggests that future research should focus on utilizing already available indigenous cyanobacterial strains and searching for new species to explore the symbiotic mechanisms executed with other beneficial soil microbes, from an environmentally friendly perspective, toward the management of the rhizosphere to encourage plant growth and development. Moreover, it is necessary to explore the composition, diversification, distribution, and environmental factors of cyanobacteria in rice ( Oryza sativa L.)‐based soils under different ecological conditions to better utilize the biotechnology tool.
Farooq et al. (Sun,) studied this question.