Microorganisms in Sustainable Agriculture and Biotechnology
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Microorganisms in Sustainable Agriculture, Food, and the Environment fills the need for a comprehensive volume on recent advances and innovations in microbiology. The book is divided into four main parts: Recent Advances and Trends. Microbial Intoxication in Dairy Food Product.
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Microbial Spoilage in Milk and Milk Products: Recent Advances in Crop Diseases Management. Industrial Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology.
Trends in Plant Science, 14, 1—4. The major impact of agricultural microbiology on sustainable agriculture would be to substitute agrochemicals mineral fertilizers, pesticides with microbial preparations. The purpose of the review is to further prioritize the importance in the scientific community as well as stakeholders. Table of Contents Food Microbiology. Genomes differ greatly in size and sequence across different organisms. Rhizobium is a bacteria used to make biofertilizers. However, this substitution is usually partial and only sometimes may be complete, e.
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This review of recent developments in our understanding of the role of microbes in sustainable agriculture and biotechnology covers a research area with. Download Citation on ResearchGate | Microorganisms in Sustainable Agriculture and Biotechnology | This review of recent developments in our understanding.
It could be through conference attendance, group discussion or directed reading to name just a few examples. We provide a free online form to document your learning and a certificate for your records. Already read this title? Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. Exclusive web offer for individuals. Add to Wish List. In our bodies, different microbes help to digest food, ward off invasive organisms, and engage in skirmishes and pitched battles with the human immune system in the give-and-take of the natural disease process.
A genome is the totality of genetic material in the DNA of a particular organism. Genomes differ greatly in size and sequence across different organisms. Obtaining the complete genome sequence of a microbe provides crucial information about its biology, but it is only the first step toward understanding a microbe's biological capabilities and modifying them, if needed, for agricultural purposes. Microbial biotechnology, enabled by genome studies, will lead to breakthroughs such as improved vaccines and better disease-diagnostic tools, improved microbial agents for biological control of plant and animal pests, modifications of plant and animal pathogens for reduced virulence, development of new industrial catalysts and fermentation organisms, and development of new microbial agents for bioremediation of soil and water contaminated by agricultural runoff http: Microbial biotechnology is an important area that promotes for advances in food safety, food security, value-added products, human nutrition and functional foods, plant and animal protection, and overall fundamental research in the agricultural sciences.
Micro-organisms found in the soil to improve agricultural productivity. Men use naturally occurring organisms to develop biofertilizers and bio-pesticides to assist plant growth and control weeds, pests, and diseases. Micro-organisms that live in the soil actually help plants to absorb more nutrients.
In return, plants donate their waste by-products for the microbes to use for food. Scientists use these friendly micro-organisms to develop biofertilizers. Phosphate and nitrogen are important for the growth of plants. These compounds exist naturally in the environment but plants have a limited ability to extract them.
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Phosphate plays an important role in crop stress tolerance, maturity, quality and directly or indirectly, in nitrogen fixation. A fungus, Penicillium bilaii helps to unlock phosphate from the soil.
It makes an organic acid, which dissolves the phosphate in the soil so that the roots can use it. Biofertilizer made from this organism is applied by either coating seeds with the fungus as inoculation, or putting it directly into the ground. Rhizobium is a bacteria used to make biofertilizers. This bacterium lives on the plant's roots in cell collections called nodules.
The nodules are biological factories that can take nitrogen out of the air and convert it into an organic form that the plant can use. This fertilization method has been designed by nature.
With a large population of the friendly bacteria on its roots, the legume can use naturally-occurring nitrogen instead of the expensive traditional nitrogen fertilizer. Biofertilizers help plants use all of the food available in the soil and air, thus allowing farmers to reduce the amount of chemical fertilizers they use. This helps preserve the environment for the generations to come. Microorganisms found in the soil are all not so friendly to plants. These pathogens can cause disease or damage the plant.
Weeds are the problem for farmers. They not only compete with crops for water, nutrients, sunlight, and space but also harbor insect and disease pests; clog irrigation and drainage systems; undermine crop quality; and deposit weed seeds into crop harvests. Bio-herbicides are another way of controlling weeds without environmental hazards posed by synthetic herbicides.
The microbes possess invasive genes that can attack the defence genes of the weeds, thereby killing it. The benefit of using bioherbicides is that it can survive in the environment long enough for the next growing season where there will be more weeds to infect. It is cheaper than synthetic pesticides thus could essentially reduce farming expenses if managed properly. Further, it is not harmful to the environment compared to conventional herbicides and will not affect non-target organisms.
Biotechnology can also help in developing alternative controls to synthetic insecticides to fight against insect pests. Micro-organisms in the soil that will attack fungi, viruses or bacteria, which cause root diseases. Formulas for coatings on the seed inoculants which carry these beneficial organisms can be developed to protect the plant during the critical seedling stage.
Bioinsecticides do not persist long in the environment and have shorter shelf lives; they are effective in small quantities, safer to humans and animals compared to synthetic insecticides; they are very specific, often affecting only a single species of insect and have a very specific mode of action; slow in action and the timing of their application is relatively critical. Fungi cause diseases in some different insects and this disease producing traits of fungi is being used as bioinsecticides.
Fermentation technology is used to mass production of fungi. Spores are harvested and packaged so these are applied to insect-ridden fields. When the spores are applied, they use enzymes to break through the outer surface of the insects' bodies. Once inside, they begin to grow and eventually cause death. Fungal agents are recommended by some researchers as having the best potential for long-term insect control. This is because these bioinsecticides attack in a variety of ways at once, making it very difficult for insects to develop resistance. Baculoviruses affect insect pests like corn borers, potato beetles, flea beetles and aphids.
One particular strain is being used as a control agent for bertha army worms, which attack canola, flax, and vegetable crops.
Microorganisms in Sustainable Agriculture, Food, and the Environment - CRC Press Book
Traditional insecticides do not affect the worm until after it has reached this stage and by then much of the damage has been done. It is our view that the most promising strategy to reach this goal is to substitute hazardous agrochemicals mineral fertilizers, pesticides with environment-friendly preparations of symbiotic microbes, which could improve the nutrition of crops and livestock, as well as their protection from biotic pathogens, pests and abiotic including pollution and climatic change stresses Yang et al.
Therefore, agricultural microbiology is the present paramount research field responsible for the transfer of knowledge from general microbiology and microbial ecology to the agricultural biotechnologies. The present review is focussed on plants, but also emphasises the importance of micro-organisms in relation to agriculture and environmental health Wang et al. The agronomic potential of plant—microbial symbioses proceeds from the analysis of their ecological impacts, which have been best studied for N 2 fixing Franche et al.
The major impact of agricultural microbiology on sustainable agriculture would be to substitute agrochemicals mineral fertilizers, pesticides with microbial preparations.
However, this substitution is usually partial and only sometimes may be complete, e. The application of nutritional symbionts could be based on plant mixotrophy, e. This is why the maximal productivity of the majority of crops is reached using an optimal species- and genotype-specific combination of both nutritional types because of which a high sustainability of legume production may be achieved Provorov et al.
The balance between symbiotrophic and combined N nutrition may be improved by a rapid removal of N-compounds from the actively N 2 -fixing symbioses, as has been suggested for tropical forest ecosystems Hedin et al.
Microorganisms in Sustainable Agriculture, Food, and the Environment
At present, a wide spectrum of preparations of diverse microbial species may be used to enhance crop production Andrews et al. However, different approaches for improving the nutritional and defensive types of microbial mutualists need to be developed. The application of microbial symbiotic signals or their derivatives for remodelling plant developmental or defensive functions may represent a promising field for agricultural biotechnology.