More than one hundred years have passed since the development of the first microbial inoculant for plants. Nowadays, the use of microbial inoculants in agriculture is spread worldwide for different crops and carrying different microorganisms. In the last decades, impressive progress has been achieved in the production, commercialization and use of inoculants. Nowadays, farmers are more receptive to the use of inoculants mainly because high-quality products and multi-purpose elite strains are available at the market, improving yields at low cost in comparison to chemical fertilizers. In the context of a more sustainable agriculture, microbial inoculants also help to mitigate environmental impacts caused by agrochemicals. Challenges rely on the production of microbial inoculants for a broader range of crops, and the expansion of the inoculated area worldwide, in addition to the search for innovative microbial solutions in areas subjected to increasing episodes of environmental stresses. In this review, we explore the world market for inoculants, showing which bacteria are prominent as inoculants in different countries, and we discuss the main research strategies that might contribute to improve the use of microbial inoculants in agriculture.

中文翻译：

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微生物菌剂：回顾过去，讨论现在，展望有益菌在农业中的应用的美好未来。

自从开发出第一种植物微生物接种剂以来，已经过去了一百多年。如今，微生物接种剂在农业中的使用已遍及世界各地，针对不同的作物并携带不同的微生物。在过去的几十年里，孕育剂的生产、商业化和使用取得了令人瞩目的进步。如今，农民更愿意使用接种剂，主要是因为市场上有高质量的产品和多用途的优良菌株，与化肥相比，可以以较低的成本提高产量。在更可持续农业的背景下，微生物接种剂还有助于减轻农用化学品造成的环境影响。除了在环境压力日益增加的地区寻找创新的微生物解决方案之外，挑战还在于为更广泛的作物生产微生物接种剂，以及扩大全球接种面积。在这篇综述中，我们探讨了世界接种剂市场，展示了哪些细菌在不同国家作为接种剂最为突出，并讨论了可能有助于改善微生物接种剂在农业中使用的主要研究策略。