Plant-Soil-Microbes: A Tripartite Interaction for Nutrient Acquisition and Better Plant Growth

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Background

Soil is a living, dynamic matrix that is fundamental to terrestrial ecology. It is a vital resource not just for agricultural production and food security, but also for soil microorganisms. These soil biota are crucial for decomposition and nutrient cycling processes. Soils impoverished by nutrients lead to crop yield loss and nutritional problems, affecting over two billion people. Being a storehouse of microbial activity, soil fertility and its conservation is sustained by soil microbes. However, the high sensitivity of soil microorganisms to excessive soil contaminants leads to the deterioration of soil biodiversity and fertility. Hence, soil contamination is also responsible for reducing crop yields and the deprivation of soil nutrients. Since major microbial activity is confined to aggregates of plant organic matter and rhizosphere, we can say that soil diversity and nutrient maintenance is influenced by the presence of plants.

Nutrient deficiency is one of the major abiotic factors that stunts plant growth and yield. Anthropogenic activities such as mining, modern agricultural practices, and industrialisation impose a negative impact on soil health and cause nutrient insufficiency in soil. Breeding approaches and transgenic technologies are now being used to combat the problem of crop yield loss. However, the improvisation of soil health is still neglected. One of the most promising techniques for maintaining soil nutrients is the employment of beneficial microbes in soil, which is also reliable for safe crop management strategies. Plant roots exude organic materials into the rhizosphere, which serves as a source of nutrients for the better growth of microorganisms. Recent studies also reported the role of nanoparticles, including biogenic nanoparticles, in overcoming nutrient shortage in plants as well as soil by various direct and indirect mechanisms with the aid of microbes. Overall, this tripartite interaction facilitates ecological processes such as nutrient cycling, degradation of organic matter, and plant stress tolerance. Hence, this Research Topic is an attempt to enhance knowledge on how plants and microbes interact for nutrient enrichment in soil and tolerate adverse conditions for sustainable agriculture.

Considering the role of beneficial microbes for sustainable agriculture and the importance of microbial community composition in maintaining soil health, this topic can provide a way to achieve productivity by the use of renewable microbial bio-resources.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
• Role of microbes in carbon sequestration in soil
• Microbes for biological nitrification and denitrification inhibition
• Omics-approaches to establish interaction between soil-microbe and plants
• Mechanisms of plant and microbe coexistence
• Biogenic nanoparticles for plant growth
• Biofertilizers for soil nutrient enrichment including Genetically Modified Microbes
• Role of microbe in nutrient cycling and its effect on microbial diversity
• Role of microbes in combating nutrient stress

Keywords: crop yield, nutrients, rhizobacteria, soil, stress

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