Microorganisms and Their Metabolic By-Products in the Soil-Plant System

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant–Soil Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 3829

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia 100, 95123 Catania, Italy
Interests: plant biochemistry; secondary plant metabolism; natural biostimulants; microalgae; plant mineral nutrition; nutrient deficiency; milk-clotting enzymes; soil biochemistry

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Interests: soil fertility; sustainable agriculture; plant–soil–microbial interactions; essential oils; phytotoxicity; bioherbicides; weed management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia 100, 95123 Catania, Italy
Interests: plant diseases; phytopathogenic fungi; plant protection; biological control agents
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia 100, 95123 Catania, Italy
Interests: plant mineral nutrition; nutrient deficiency; nutrient transport; soil chemistry; plant biochemistry; soil organic matter; natural biostimulants; organic wastes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays agricultural systems have to deal with two important needs: on the one hand, to increase crops yield, and on the other, to reduce the impact of exogenous molecules such as herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, and growth promoters on the environment. Especially in organic agriculture, the demand of natural compounds that are able to substitute the synthetic ones is increasing. In recent years, the use of microorganisms (microalgae, rhizobacteria, fungi, etc.) and their metabolic byproducts in agriculture has been increasing, such that several molecules have been used as biostimulants, biopesticides, or bioherbicides. They can be used to improve nutrient use efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, availability of nutrients in the rhizosphere, plant performance, competition with weeds, and pest management.

In order to support these new agricultural needs, a better understanding is needed about the effects of the microorganisms and their byproducts on the soil–plant system by focusing on the specific biochemical and physiological mechanisms.

Therefore, this Special Issue wants to elucidate the effects and roles of beneficial microorganisms and their byproducts on the soil–plant system in order to increase the knowledge within the scientific community, industries, and agronomists, and to provide a better understanding of the mode of action and application procedure of microorganisms and their by-products to different soil–plant systems.

Dr. Ivana Puglisi
Prof. Vito Armando Laudicina
Prof. Dr. Alessandro Vitale
Prof. Dr. Andrea Baglieri
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biostimulants
  • microorganisms
  • microalgae
  • mycorrhizal fungi
  • rhizosphere
  • plant growth
  • bioherbicides
  • fungicides
  • pesticides
  • nutrient efficiency

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

17 pages, 6306 KiB  
Article
Bacterial Indole-3-Acetic Acid Influences Soil Nitrogen Acquisition in Barley and Chickpea
by Shraddha Gang, Sheetal Sharma, Meenu Saraf, Martin Buck and Jorg Schumacher
Plants 2021, 10(4), 780; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10040780 - 16 Apr 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2968
Abstract
Farming of barley and chickpea is nitrogen (N) fertilizer dependent. Using strategies that increase the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and its components, nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUpE) and nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE) would reduce the N fertilizer application in the soil and its adverse [...] Read more.
Farming of barley and chickpea is nitrogen (N) fertilizer dependent. Using strategies that increase the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and its components, nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUpE) and nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE) would reduce the N fertilizer application in the soil and its adverse environmental effects. We evaluated the effects of three different strains of diazotroph Klebsiella (K.p. SSN1, K.q. SGM81, and K.o. M5a1) to understand the role of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) and bacterial indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) on NUE of the plants. A field study revealed that K.p. SSN1 results in profound increment of root surface area by eightfold and threefold compared to uninoculated (control) in barley and chickpea, respectively. We measured significant increase in the plant tissue nitrogen, chlorophyll content, protein content, nitrate reductase activity, and nitrate concentration in the inoculated plants (p ≤ 0.05). Treated barley and chickpea exhibited higher NUE and the components compared to the control plants (K.p. SSN1 ≥ K.q. SGM81> K.o. M5a1). Specifically, K.q. SGM81 treatment in barley increased NUpE by 72%, while in chickpea, K.p. SSN1 increased it by 187%. The substantial improvement in the NUpE and NUE by the auxin producers K.p. SSN1 and K.q. SGM81 compared with non-auxin producer K.o. M5a1 was accompanied by an augmented root architecture suggesting larger contribution of IAA over marginal contribution of BNF in nitrogen acquisition from the soil. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop