Ensuring Environmental Sustainability with Biofertilizers

Food security faces numerous challenges in modern intensive agriculture. Crop production increases through the large-scale application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to meet the nutritional demands of a growing world population.

FREMONT, CA: A country's economy relies heavily on agriculture. Modern intensive agricultural practices use large amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to meet the nutritional needs of an ever-increasing population.

In agriculture, however, rapid urbanization, dramatic changes in climate, and extensive use of agrochemicals have been found to adversely affect food security and sustainability due to environmental disturbances and public health hazards.

Agrochemicals used indiscriminately are also detrimental to agriculture soil quality, physical properties, chemical composition (imbalance of nutrients) and biological health. The growth-promoting characteristics of plant-associated microbes have enormous potential to overcome these challenges, and they can play a vital role in enhancing biomass and crop yield under greenhouse and field conditions. Enhancing nutrient availability (i.e., N, P, K, Zn, and S), modulating phytohormones, and controlling phytopathogens are beneficial mechanisms for improving plant growth.

This plant-microbe interaction is essential for sustainable agriculture, and microbes may play an essential role in reducing the use of chemical fertilizers by acting as ecological engineers. It is necessary to prepare the inoculum, add cell protectants such as glycerol, lactose, and starch, select a good carrier material, package it properly, and deliver the biofertilizer effectively to produce solid-based or liquid biofertilizer formulations.

Recent formulation developments include entrapment/microencapsulation, nanoimmobilization of microbial bioinoculants, and biofilm-based biofertilizers. With these benefits, inoculating with beneficial microbes has emerged as an innovative, eco-friendly technology to feed the world's population.

The quality and physical properties of agricultural soils are continuously deteriorating, as well as their chemical composition (an imbalance of nutrients) and biological health. With their plant growth-promoting traits, plant-associated microbes have enormous potential for solving these challenges and improving crop yields and biomass. Abiotic and biotic stress decreases, and nutrient availability is improved. Phytohormones are regulated, phytopathogens are bio-controlled, and plant growth is enhanced. In the preparation of a solid-based or liquid bioinoculant, there are many components, including the preparation of the inoculum, the addition of cell protectants such as glycerol, lactose, starch, a suitable carrier material, the proper packaging, and the best delivery methods. Entrapment and microencapsulation of microbial bioinoculants, nano-immobilization of these bioinoculants, and biofilm-based biofertilizers are some of the more recent developments in formulations.

Due to the increasing pollution problems, which pose serious health hazards to the general public, eco-friendly and sustainable technologies were required to be developed, reducing synthetic fertilizers' use by developing sustainable technologies. Consequently, it has emerged as an innovative and environmentally friendly technology to enhance soil fertility and plant growth by using beneficial microbiomes as biofertilizers in regenerative agriculture practices.