Agricultural practices require novel products that allow sustainable development and commercial production according to the needs of farmers and consumers. Therefore, in the last decade, eco-friendly alternatives have been studied, so volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by microorganisms have emerged as a cheaper, effective, efficient, and an eco-friendly alternative. VOCs are lipophilic compounds derived from microbial metabolic pathways with low molecular weight (<300 g mol⁻¹), low boiling point, and high vapor pressure that allow them to act as signal molecules over short and long distances. Main case studies provide evidence that VOCs released from diverse microorganisms (i.e. Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Arthrobacter, Fusarium, and Alternaria) can stimulate growth on a specific “target” seedling, such as Arabidopsis and tobacco. Some identified compounds, such as 3-hydroxy-2-butanone (acetoin), 2,3-butanediol, 2-pentylfuran, or dimethylhexadecylmine have shown their ability to elicit growth at root or leaf level. Few studies indicate that VOCs act in the regulation at phytohormone, metabolic pathways and nutrition levels according to genetic, proteomic, and metabolic analyses; but action mechanisms associated with growth-inducing activity are poorly understood. In this work, we reviewed case studies regarding identified compounds and action mechanisms for a better understanding of the information collected so far. Additionally, a brief description about the effects of VOCs for induction of resistance and tolerance in plants are presented, where compounds such as acetoin, dimethyl disulfide, 3-pentanol and 6-pentyl-α-pyrone have been reported. Furthermore, we summarized the knowledge to direct future studies that propose microbial VOCs as a technological innovation in agriculture and horticulture.

农业实践需要能够根据农民和消费者的需求实现可持续发展和商业生产的新型产品。因此，在过去的十年中，人们对环保替代品进行了研究，微生物排放的挥发性有机化合物（VOC）已成为一种更便宜、有效、高效且环保的替代品。 VOC 是源自微生物代谢途径的亲脂性化合物，具有低分子量 (<300 id=22>−1 )、低沸点和高蒸气压，使其能够在短距离和长距离内充当信号分子。主要案例研究提供的证据表明，多种微生物（即芽孢杆菌、假单胞菌、节杆菌、镰刀菌和链格孢菌）释放的挥发性有机化合物可以刺激特定“目标”幼苗（例如拟南芥和烟草）的生长。一些已鉴定的化合物，如 3-羟基-2-丁酮（乙偶姻）、2,3-丁二醇、2-戊基呋喃或二甲基十六烷基胺已显示出它们在根或叶水平上引发生长的能力。很少有研究表明，根据遗传、蛋白质组和代谢分析，挥发性有机化合物在植物激素、代谢途径和营养水平的调节中发挥作用；但与生长诱导活动相关的作用机制却知之甚少。在这项工作中，我们回顾了有关已识别化合物和作用机制的案例研究，以便更好地理解迄今为止收集的信息。此外，还简要描述了 VOC 对诱导植物抗性和耐受性的影响，其中报道了乙偶姻、二甲基二硫醚、3-戊醇和 6-戊基-α-吡喃酮等化合物。 此外，我们总结了这些知识，以指导未来的研究，提出微生物挥发性有机化合物作为农业和园艺的技术创新。