Editorial: Elucidating the roles of plant-microbe interactions, biological control and plant breeding in the promotion of soil health and sustainable crop production systems

It is worrying that prolonged intensive arable agriculture, coupled with climate change, undoubtedly results in huge loss of soil fertility, crop productivity, biodiversity, and leads to environmental crisis. If no alternative sustainable solutions are implemented, the world can no longer feed its alarmingly increasing population, which is estimated to be around 10 billion by 2050. This Research Topic served as a platform to gather essential research contributions on the roles of plant-microbe interactions, plant breeding, and biological control in promoting sustainable crop production and maintaining soil health. The four articles published under this Research Topic reported various findings on investigations that address sustainability in agriculture largely brought about by the interactions of plants with their microbial symbionts in the rhizosphere. The combined characteristics of breeding and effective symbiotic properties such as nodulation performance, have been proven effective in several field trials.