Understanding and Developing Technologies for Effective Exploitation of Beneficial Microbes in Commercial Horticulture.

Maintaining and even increasing crop productivity in cropping systems with reduced input of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers in the context of climate changing (hence increasing unpredictability) are key challenges facing commercial agriculture. Exploiting beneficial microbes are increasingly recognised as a key component of solutions towards achieving sustainable agriculture. Much research efforts have been directed to understand biology and ecology of common beneficial microbes, such as mycorrhizal fungi, nitrogen-fixing bacteria, plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), and biocontrol agents like Trichoderma and Bacillus species, enabling us to harness them for alleviating abiotic and biotic stresses faced by crop plants.

Benefits associated beneficial microbes is more likely to be realised in horticultural crops than broadacre crops because of the nature of many horticultural crops: (i) high value, (ii) grown in substrate and/or under more controlled environmental conditions, and (iii) demanding precision management (including post-harvest management). Their application in horticulture and the magnitude of benefits conferred to plants critically depend on our understanding of their biology and ecology, particularly their interactions with resident phytobiomes and plants under changing environmental conditions.

This research topic aims to synthesise current advances in our understanding on the interactions of beneficial microbes with resident phytobiome and plants and in their practical application in commercial horticulture. For this research topic, we encourage submissions of original research and review articles on, but not limited to, the following research and development areas:

· Understanding biological functions (or mechanisms) of beneficial microbes that help plants alleviate abiotic and biotic stresses, such as enhancing nutrient uptake, stimulating root development and plant growth hormones, suppressing soilborne pathogens and pests, and improving stress tolerance to drought, salinity, and temperature extremes;
· Developing technologies for exploiting beneficial microbes in practice, including formulations tailored to specific crops and environments, precision agriculture tools for monitoring the fate of specific microbes under natural conditions for optimising microbial applications, and rapid identification of candidate microbes for research and exploitation; and
· Assessing their performance under semi- and/or commercial conditions, including integration with other crop management strategies for specific cropping systems (including both conventional IPM and organic production systems), and economic as well as environmental sustainability.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Beneficial microbes, resource use efficiency, biocontrol, crop resiliency, soil health, substrate health, crop productivity, microbiome, synthetic microbial communities, phytobiome, formulation, commercial exploitation

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.