Microbiome as a Key Player in Sustainable Agriculture and Human Health (original) (raw)
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Wonders of Microbes in Agriculture for Productivity and Sustainability
2017
During the green revolution which we have witnessed in the 1970s, we became self-dependent for food production. The major outbreak of green revolution is deterioration of physical, chemical and biological properties of soil due to excessive use of agrochemicals to maximize crop yield. Presently, sustainability and health of soil are of great concern and that’s why people are looking for alternatives of agrochemicals. Organic amendments and microorganisms are now being harnessed for their efficient use as biofertilizers and biopesticides. Soil microorganisms interact with plant roots where they get nutrition from root exudates and degrading organic matter. Although beneficial microorganisms possess ability to deal with various environmental issues, their application in well-organized way to resolve environmental problems is yet to be realized. In this chapter, we will elaborate the importance of microbial technologies in agriculture for the larger benefit of the farming and scientifi...
Frontiers in Agronomy, 2023
Editorial on the Research Topic Soil-plant-microbe interactions: An innovative approach towards improving soil health and plant growth The loss of soil health is one of the major obstacles to attaining agricultural sustainability. This loss is typically caused by the adoption of poor farming practices and the excessive use of chemicals, such as fertilizers and pesticides (Kumar et al., 2017; Kumar et al., 2018). One potential strategy to stop this deterioration in soil quality is the application of microbial inoculants to the soil or plant parts (Banik et al., 2019). Understanding how microbes function in the plant-soil system's biogeochemical cycling, as well as in processes like the reduction of toxins, nutrient dynamics, antioxidant activity, systemic induction of resistance, pathogen suppression, etc., is essential if we are to fully utilize their potential (Govindasamy et al., 2008). In addition to improving product quality and environmental health, these interactions will lessen the toxicity of synthetic chemicals and other pollutants. This special issue covers the aspects related to the relationship between soil, plants, and microbes to enhance soil health and plant growth, which is especially helpful for comprehending the sustainability of agricultural systems. In this Research Topic, the prevalence and potential management strategies of plant diseases in horticulture crops, including tomato fusarium wilt, apple replant disease (ARD), and kiwifruit early decline syndrome, have been examined. The factors of kiwifruit early decline syndrome were triggered due to the interaction between climatic conditions and agronomic soil management. Hence, properly managing these conditions might be useful to suppress the kiwifruit early decline syndrome (Bardi et al.). Whereas ARD disease was overcome by creating a new microbial community structure favorable to plant growth when ZnO-NPs were added to the soil (Pan et al.). On the other hand, Chaturvedi et al. highlighted the application of bacterial endophyte consortium to protect the photosynthetic system in tomato against fusarium wilt. Rhizospheric and endophytic beneficial microorganisms play a crucial role in promoting plant growth and improving soil health. The rhizospheric microbes improve Frontiers in Agronomy frontiersin.org 01
Sustainable Development and Biodiversity, 2021
Fertility is the simplest yet most sophisticated word to describe a wellcultivated soil. Simply because it can, in general, make the most of the product available to everyone and complex because many aspects of its sustainable management are still unknown, even to experts in the field of soil science. In fact, fertility is a reflection of the intrinsic complexity of the plant's soil ecosystem, because of one of the characteristics of the various components of this vital system, as well as the numerous interactions between them. These components are affected and, as a result, they provide the sum of their effects in the capacity to support plant growth and crop production. Therefore, maintaining this capability at optimum crop production level requires steady, comprehensive management, and is aware of all the physical, chemical, and biological aspects that affect not only the quantity of production but also the quality and health of the soil and environmental resources. Microbial fertilizers and soil microorganisms play an important role in controlling plant diseases, eliminating plant pests, and converting part of the minerals to a usable form for plants. Chemical fertilizers are essential components of biocontrol and plant growth factors. The use of plant food-producing bacteria and the application of proper soil fertility and plant nutrition in addition to protecting the environment and human health also avoid the unnecessary and wasteful use of chemical fertilizers.
Microbes of the phytomicrobiome are associated with every plant tissue and, in combination with the plant form the holobiont. Plants regulate the composition and activity of their associated bacterial community carefully. These microbes provide a wide range of services and benefits to the plant; in return, the plant provides the microbial community with reduced carbon and other metabolites. Soils are generally a moist environment, rich in reduced carbon which supports extensive soil microbial communities. The rhizomicrobiome is of great importance to agriculture owing to the rich diversity of root exudates and plant cell debris that attract diverse and unique patterns of microbial colonization. Microbes of the rhizomicrobiome play key roles in nutrient acquisition and assimilation, improved soil texture, secreting, and modulating extracellular molecules such as hormones, secondary metabolites, antibiotics, and various signal compounds, all leading to enhancement of plant growth. The microbes and compounds they secrete constitute valuable biostimulants and play pivotal roles in modulating plant stress responses. Research has demonstrated that inoculating plants with plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) or treating plants with microbe-to-plant signal compounds can be an effective strategy to stimulate crop growth. Furthermore, these strategies can improve crop tolerance for the abiotic stresses (e.g., drought, heat, and salinity) likely to become more frequent as climate change conditions continue to develop. This discovery has resulted in multifunctional PGPR-based formulations for commercial agriculture, to minimize the use of synthetic fertilizers and agrochemicals. This review is an update about the role of PGPR in agriculture, from their collection to commercialization as low-cost commercial agricultural inputs. First, we introduce the concept and role of the phytomicrobiome and the agricultural context underlying food security in the 21st century. Next, mechanisms of plant growth promotion by PGPR are discussed, including signal exchange between plant roots and PGPR and how these relationships modulate plant abiotic stress responses via Frontiers in Plant Science | www.frontiersin.org
IntechOpen eBooks, 2023
The soil harbors billions of Microbes supporting the growth of several plants, resulting in the constant symbiotic or non-symbiotic interactions between the plants and these microorganisms known as plant-microbe interactions. Plants need nutrients (available or available but inaccessible) in the soil to grow while microbes need shelter and nutrients supplied by plants and also promote plant-growth. Microbes are constantly trading with plants either buying or selling nutrients (the nutrients are considered the main currencies for trading and the product being bought in the soil rhizosphere). Plants including legumes inoculated with Rhizobia and microbes in experimental studies show that they are able to solubilizing phosphate and metals, fixing nitrogen fixers, producing IAA, cytokinins, Gibberellins and Ethylene. Microbiomes are therefore essential for plant growth and health as they govern most soil functions affecting plant-growth. For higher crop-yields and increased soil-fertility using ecofriendly manner, researches focused on the new concepts of exotic biomolecules, hormones, enzymes and metabolites which create a suitable environment for the interaction between plant and microbes using molecular and biotechnological approaches are necessary to increase our knowledge of rhizosphere biology and to achieve an integrated management of soil microbial populations that can ultimately enhance the health of plants.
Applications and Constraints of Plant Beneficial Microorganisms in Agriculture
Rhizosphere and Soil Microbes - Utilization in Agriculture and Industry Under Current Scenario [Working Title]
At present time, chemical fertilizers are more in practice for crop production, which failed to upkeep soil and environment quality and affected the sustainability of the agricultural production system. Conversely, biofertilizers are ecosystem friendly, one of the best modern tools for agriculture, and are used to improve soil fertility and quality. Biofertilizers have now emerged as a highly potent alternative to inorganic fertilizers and offer an ecologically sound and economically attractive route for augmenting nutrient supply and increasing crop production. These include live cells of diverse genera of microorganisms and have the potential to fix atmospheric nitrogen and solubilize and mobilize plant nutrients from insoluble form through microbiological process. It has also the potential to diminish the gap between nutrient supply through fertilizers and nutrient removal by crops. Hence, biofertilizers can be a feasible option to the farmers to increase crop productivity and should find greater acceptance from the extension workers and commercial biofertilizer manufacturers.
Role of Plant Growth Promoting Microorganisms in Sustainable Agriculture and Nanotechnology
Role of Plant Growth Promoting Microorganisms in Sustainable Agriculture and Nanotechnology, 2019
Natural products such as plants, animals, marine organisms, and microorganisms have been widely used as sources of novel bioactive compounds of industrial significance. Bioactive compounds such as alkaloid, terpenes, phenolic, and flavonoids possess strong pesticidal and therapeutic potential have been generated from natural products especially by higher plants as secondary metabolites. However, in view of the low concentration of bioactive molecules in plants, threat of biodiversity loss, chemotypic variation, and scarcity of land and water required for large-scale cultivation, industries are looking for alternative source of bioactive molecules. Today, the use of microorganisms and their metabolite products are considered as candidates to control agricultural pests and provide novel therapeutic agents (antibiotics, immunosuppressants, and lipid-lowering agents). Secondary metabolites are organic compounds that are not directly involved in the normal growth but play significant role in defense systems of organisms (Stamp, 2003). Secondary metabolite products of microbial sources have been widely used in agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors because of their advantages over other natural resources such as large-scale cultivation without seasonal variation, sufficient availability, and low cost. Recent reports have revealed that microorganisms, especially plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), have made significant contributions to agricultural industries. PGPR are widely used as bioinoculants in organic farming as a biofertilizer agent to improve soil fertility and also to prevent pest (Kumar et al., 2015a,b). Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas, Streptomyces and Trichoderma, and Gliocladium and Fusarium are widely used for the preparation of different consortia that have the potential to reduce pests in agriculture (Kumar et al., 2015b, 2017; Kloepper et al., 2004). Thus, the sustainable use of microbes and their products could reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which often pollute the environment. Endophytes (bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes) colonize internal living tissues without causing any immediate negative symptoms to host plants. Most of them have the capability to produce bioactive secondary metabolites with unique structural and functional properties that could be successfully used as therapeutic agents
The world’s population is increasing and so are agricultural activities to match the growing demand for food. Conventional agricultural practices generally employ artificial fertilizers to increase crop yields, but these have multiple environmental and human health effects. For decades, environmentalists and sustainability researchers have focused on alternative crop fertilization mechanisms to address these challenges, and biofertilizers have constantly been researched, recommended, and even successfully-adopted for several crops. Biofertilizers are microbial formulations made of indigenous plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) which can naturally improve plant growth either directly or indirectly, through the production of phytohormones, solubilization of soil nutrients, and production of iron-binding metabolites; siderophores. Biofertilizers, therefore, hold immense potential as tools for sustainable crop production especially in the wake of climate change and global warmin...
Soil and phytomicrobiomes for plant growth and soil fertility
Plant Science Today, 2021
Soil is the basic requirement for agriculture crop production and simultaneously the microbial activity is important to improve soil health for healthy crop growth because microbial communities play an important role in building a complex link between plants and soil. Microbiomes from plants, soil and extreme environments are naturally gifted with amazing capabilities which play significant roles in the maintenance of global nutrient balance and ecosystem functions. The microbiomes from diverse niches have in fact emerged as potential tools for improving the plant growth and productivity by diverse mechanisms include solubilization of nutrients, nitrogen fixation, hormonal stimulation as well as biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. Further, these microbiomes have an immense potential to maintain soil health and fertility. Thus, dependent on their mode of action and effects, these microbiomes can be used as biofertilizers, biopesticides, plant strengtheners, and phytostimulators whic...