Prospecting Microbial Technologies for Agricultural Sustainability

Mushrooming human population, global climate change, increasing pressure on land resources for promoting crop yield, and increasing pollution of land, air and water have shifted the interest of scientific community towards sustainable and eco-friendly solutions for the persisting challenges and to promote environmental and agricultural sustainability. Increased agricultural productivity in limited land resources is primarily attained through extensive utilization of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that deteriorate soil health and impact human health negatively.

Microorganisms associated with plant rhizosphere can be harnessed for their plant growth promoting characteristics, abiotic and biotic stress management strategies to overcome the challenges of climate change and other stress factors. Exploring effective microbial strains and identifying various bioactive products may help in developing beneficial and efficient biofertilizers, and biopesticides for promoting nutrient acquisition, combating nutrient deficiencies, and stress management. Efficient microbial formulations may help reducing dependency of agriculture on synthetic agrochemicals that are toxic to soil health and microflora.

To explore and implement eco-friendly solutions is the prime approach to attain sustainability in agriculture and environment. Besides unleashing the immense potential of microorganisms, it is equally important to understand the technological limitations and research gaps in this field. Reducing the utilization of synthetic chemicals in agriculture and opting for safe disposal and waste management strategies is urgently required. Modern technologies and biotechnological principles can be applied in the development of efficient microbial technologies exhibiting the following properties; degradation of xenobiotic compounds, integrated pest management, microbial formulations with enhanced shelf life, and microbial consortia offering a better solution with increased efficiency.

We welcome submissions of original research, review articles related, but not limited, to the following themes:

• Rhizospheric engineering for recruiting beneficial microbiome for improving crop yield and plant resilience.
• Degradation of pesticides and other xenobiotic compounds in agricultural soil using microbial technology.
• Biotic and abiotic stress management in economically important crops using microorganisms-based formulations.
• Microbial diversity and their role in maintaining soil fertility.
• Developing novel microbial formulations with high efficiency and longer shelf life
• Plant growth promoting microorganisms (Bacteria, mycorrhiza): mechanism of action for plant growth promotion.
• Induced systemic resistance (ISR) and Systemic acquired resistance in plants