Microbiome Engineering for Sustainable Industrial Plantation Forests

Industrial plantation forests are essential in providing raw materials for forest-based products. The plantation forest area is constantly enlarging as the global demand for wood increases over time. The sustainability of plantation forests should be viewed from economic, social, and ecological perspectives. One challenge to the sustainable management of these forests has been to grow healthy trees, which are considerably affected by both above- and below-ground biotic and abiotic factors. The main below-ground components include soil microbes. Beneficial soil microbes directly or indirectly improve the availability of certain nutrients required for tree growth, health, and survival. On the other hand, soil-borne pathogens instigate diseases, impairing plantation forest sustainability. As described previously, the microbiome plays a crucial role in the sustainability of plantation forest ecosystems. It is key to ecological processes affecting both plant health and productivity. In plantation forests where the microbial community is less diverse than that in natural forests, microbiome engineering should lead to a more resilient ecosystem able to better mitigate biotic and abiotic stresses due to disease, drought, nutrient limitation, etc. Plant-beneficial microbes actively compete with plant pathogens within the rhizosphere areas, impeding their growth. The microbiome could also enhance plant immunity through priming of plant defence. In addition to disease suppression, the beneficial soil microbes also contribute to plant nutrient uptake and promote tolerance against drought. By understanding these interactions, we can develop strategies for microbiome engineering to promote the sustainability of plantation forests. One such strategy is to utilize microbial inoculants, i.e., beneficial microorganisms conserved in or applied to the soil to improve soil health and tree growth.

This research topic aims to put together scientific knowledge exploring microbiomes in the context of the plantation forests' sustainable production. We welcome manuscripts focusing on novel microbiome engineering approaches utilizing plant-growth-promoting microbes in a broader sense, including biofertilizers, biostimulants, biocontrol agents, and saprotrophs. Specific questions to be addressed include how these microbial communities can be optimized to enhance tree growth, mitigate disease risks, and improve resilience to environmental stresses. Hypotheses to be tested may involve the efficacy of different microbial inoculants in various soil types and climatic conditions, as well as the long-term impacts of microbiome engineering on forest health and productivity.

To gather further insights into the boundaries of microbiome engineering for sustainable industrial plantation forests, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Disease risk mitigation
- Increased drought stress tolerance
- Improved nutrient uptake efficiency
- Development and application of biofertilizers
- Role of biostimulants in tree growth
- Biocontrol agents against soil-borne pathogens
- Saprotrophic interactions in soil health
- Omics technologies in microbiome research
- Long-term impacts of microbiome engineering on forest ecosystems