- Title
- Microbial inoculant carriers: Soil health improvement and moisture retention in sustainable agriculture
- Creator
- Sivaram, Anithadevi Kenday; Abinandan, Sudharsanam; Chen, Chengrong; Venkateswartlu, Kadiyala; Megharaj, Mallavarapu
- Relation
- Advances in Agronomy p. 35-91
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/bs.agron.2023.03.001
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2023
- Description
- Agricultural sustainability practices mainly focus on developing environmentally friendly fertilizers and pesticides for maintaining soil health and fertility. A promising method to sustain and improve soil health is to use microbial inoculants or beneficial plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPM) as alternative fertilizers. Although several microbes have been identified as potential candidates for microbial inoculants, Rhizobium is well-studied and proven to be a microbial inoculant suitable under various field conditions. Delivering microorganisms from laboratory to field always requires an appropriate carrier (substrate) to sustain viability and a healthy microbial population. Among the various organic and inorganic carriers studied, peat remains the carrier of choice of commercial microbial inoculant producers for many years. However, the major limitation of using peat is its availability and accessibility. Therefore, exploring alternative microbial carriers with low-cost and reliable consistency under the field conditions is highly warranted. In addition, one of the most critical bottlenecks in microbial inoculant production is the desiccation of microbes during storage, which subsequently reduces the efficiency under field conditions. The present review focused on addressing the gaps in microbial carrier technology to develop carrier materials for microorganisms as a sustainable, economical, and eco-friendly alternative to peat. In addition, attempts must be made to explore microbial inoculants with the potential to tackle abiotic stress conditions such as drought, salinity, soil non-wettability, and inorganic and organic pollutants.
- Subject
- microbial carriers; plant growth-promoting (PGPB); soil health; soil moisture retention; SDG 2; SDG 3; SDG 8; SDG 12; Sustainable Development Goals
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1492132
- Identifier
- uon:53252
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780443192647
- Language
- eng
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