Soil microbial processes shaping seed performance: linking soil microbiomes to sustainable agriculture

Soil microorganisms are fundamental to soil sustainability, governing organic matter turnover, nutrient cycling, soil structure formation, and plant health regulation. In the context of accelerating soil degradation, climate change, and expanding agricultural salinization, understanding how soil microbial communities contribute to ecosystem resilience is crucial for sustainable soil management. Although rhizosphere and plant nutrition roles are well recognized, their influence across plant life cycles and generations remains insufficiently integrated. This Review synthesizes recent advances to propose the soil seed microbiome continuum as a unifying concept linking soil microbial processes to seed quality, early plant establishment, and crop stress tolerance under salinity stress. Unlike existing microbiome salinity reviews that predominantly focus on rhizosphere interactions or microbial inoculants under salt stress, this review advances an integrative soil seed continuum framework that connects soil ecological processes, microbial transmission, and seed associated microbiomes with a transgenerational context. We discuss how this ecosystem acts as a dynamic reservoir of beneficial and stress-adapted microorganisms that are selectively recruited by plants, transmitted through plant associated pathways, and ultimately incorporated into developing seeds. Under saline conditions, ecological filtering favors halotolerant microbial taxa that stabilize soil functions, and enhancing plant stress tolerance, with potential transgenerational benefits mediated through seed-associated microbiomes. The evidence from soil microbial ecology, plant microbe interactions, and emerging microbiome-enabled technologies, this review highlights the role of soil microorganisms as biological connectors between soil sustainability and crop performance. We further discuss implications for reduced chemical inputs, yield stability, nature-based restoration, and contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Positioning soil microorganisms within a soil seed continuum offers new perspectives for managing soil biodiversity and functionality, reinforcing their central role in sustainable agriculture and resilient soil ecosystems. This integrative perspective provides a strategic foundation for developing microbiome informed soil management approaches aimed at enhancing long term crop performance under increasing salinization and climate change.