Soil microbiome diagnostics for a successful inoculation with biofertilizers

Summary

Mineral fertilizers are commonly used in conventional agriculture. However, they pose several challenges. First, deposits of phosphate fertilizers will eventually be depleted. Second, the production of nitrogen fertilizer is very costly energetically. Finally, excess use of fertilizers can lead to eutrophication of rivers and lakes. An alternative approach to address these problems involves the use of biofertilizers, which are agricultural inputs that contain microorganisms that supply nutrients to plants. One example of a biofertilizer is arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). AMF form a symbiosis with 80% of plant species and colonize the interior of plant roots. They provide nutrients and water to the plants in exchange for lipids and carbohydrates. In this project, we performed 54 field experiments where maize was inoculated with AMF. We measured soil physical and chemical properties as well as the soil fungal community and modeled the relationship between inoculation success and soil microbiome.