By Asta Stojanovski
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| (Image Source) |
With the global population growing and increasing urbanization of the population, production of an adequate amount of food is becoming a major agricultural concern. Increasing food production and productivity of crops is therefore of great importance to the industry. However, it is well known that currently used agricultural methods have a plethora of negative environmental consequences. Therefore one of the major challenges currently facing the industry is enhancing the productivity of food crops while mitigating the environmental impacts.
Scientists think this can be achieved by utilizing microbial
communities in place of fertilizers and pesticides. According to a new report by the American
Academy of Microbiology titled “How
Microbes Can Help Feed the World” there are plenty of development
possibilities that could be capitalized on to use microbe-plant interactions to
improve crop yields across the globe. The
report describes the scientific challenges currently faced, failures of
biocontrol in the past, and new avenues that are currently being pursued. It also provides recommendations for
translating research into practical applications which is where most
developments in the field of plant biotechnology are lost.
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| (Rhizobium) |
In addition to this report, there have been many other developments
that could provide crop improvements by taking advantage of various microbial
species. While it has long been known that the rhizobia bacteria inhabit and
provide usable nitrogen to legume plants, it was not until recently that the mechanism of nutrient
exchange or the precise
interaction between microbes and plant were described. Recent research at the MU Bond Life Sciences
Center have elucidated the interaction-response relationship that allows
rhizobia to form symbiotic
relationships with legume crops but not others and are currently working on
transferring the trait to other crop plants, such as corn.
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| Rebecca Bell observing tomatoes in FDA lab |
Additionally, researchers from the FDA’s “Team Tomato,” recently
described characterization of a soil bacterium, Paenibacillus, which is harmless
to humans but lethal to Salmonella that could be utilized in place of
fumigants to reduce risk of salmonella outbreaks. Currently the FDA and the EPA
are working together to develop an organic treatment using paenibacillus. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have also
been identified as an important microbe for the production of Cassava plants in
the tropics. It has been shown by researchers in Columbia that Cassava
inoculated in vitro with a mass produced mycorrrhizal fungus, Rhizophagus
irregularis, has much higher yields of dry biomass compared to plants treated
with traditional phosphate fertilizers. These
discoveries offer clear directions for the manipulation of microbes and soil
constituents to crops advantage and will undoubtedly provide improved yields
without requiring heavy use of chemicals.
It is important however to remember that these plant-microbe
interactions do not occur in an isolated environment and that the whole
micro-ecosystem must be taken into consideration to prevent disruptions in its
functioning. Improvements in understanding the microbiome will undoubtedly lead
to more discoveries with wide implications, for both agriculture and
beyond. Additionally, it can be very
difficult to transform scientific discovery and knowledge into a practical
application with commercial relevance. This will be one of the key challenges
for these developments as time progresses. While there are still a number of
hurdles to be overcome before these discoveries are rendered commercially
available and implemented on a large scale, the advances in the field hold
promise for improved agricultural production without sacrificing environmental
health.
