Abstract: Synthetic microbial communities （SynComs）, as an emerging bioengineering approach, have gained significant research momentum globally in recent years due to their environmentally friendly nature aligning with the concept of sustainable modern agriculture. This review focused on elaborating the immense potential demonstrated by SynComs across multiple functional dimensions: enhancing crop yield and quality （optimizing nutrient uptake, regulating metabolic pathways）, biologically controlling of pests and diseases （antagonizing pathogens, inducing plant resistance）, improving soil health and nutrient management （improving fertility, remediating pollution, suppressing soil-borne diseases）, and bolstering crop tolerance to abiotic stresses （drought, salinity, aluminum toxicity）.Furthermore, the review highlighted the current challenges: the difficulty in maintaining long-term stability due to the inherent dynamics and complexity of microbial communities, insufficient understanding of microbial interaction networks, and the lack of both of supportive policies and market mechanisms. Finally, prospects for the future development of SynComs were presented, pointing out that achieving widespread application in modern agricultural production would require not only breakthroughs in systematic fundamental research and interdisciplinary collaborative innovation, but also improvements in technology extension systems, and policy/market frameworks would play a crucial role.

Key words: synthetic microbial communities （SynComs）, modern agriculture, sustainable development, biological control