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Agronomy
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Advances in PGPR (Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria)
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Advances in PGPR (Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria)

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Farming Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 July 2022) | Viewed by 12323

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Munagala S. Reddy

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
Interests: biological control of soil-borne diseases; IPM; biofertilizers & biofungicides (PGPR); induced systemic resistance; organic agriculture; development of safer environmentally-friendly agricultural products for sustainable agriculture with reduction of pesticide use and poverty alleviation around the world
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Soil microbiota or microbiomes play an important role in different types of agrosystems. Among the members of the plant microbiota, plant mycorrhiza and plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria bacteria (PGPR) interact in rhizospheric environments, leading to additive and/or synergistic effects on plant growth and heath. Mycorrhiza plays an important role in the improvement of nutrient uptake and provides tolerance to host plants against various stressful situations such as heat, salinity, drought, metals, and extreme temperatures or biocontrol of potential pathogens, under both normal and stressful conditions due to abiotic or biotic factors. Abiotic stresses hamper plant growth and productivity. Climate change and agricultural malpractices such as excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides have aggravated the effects of abiotic stresses on crop productivity and degraded the ecosystem. There is an urgent need for environment-friendly management techniques such as the use of mycorrhizal fungi for enhancing crop productivity. The present Special Issue provides comprehensive up-to-date knowledge on plant mycorrhiza in stressful agriculture and their influence on host plants at various growth stages, their advantages and applications, and consequently the importance of the relationships of different plant nutrients with mycorrhizae.

Prof. Dr. Munagala S. Reddy
Guest Editor

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. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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

  • mycorrhizal fungi
  • plant growth
  • abiotic factors
  • stress tolerance
  • mineral nutrition
  • climate change
  • drought
  • heat stress
  • salinity

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1762 KiB  
Article
Combined Effects of Biosolarization and Brassica Amendments on Survival of Biocontrol Agents and Inhibition of Fusarium oxysporum
by Ritu Mawar, Satish Lodha, Madhavi Ranawat, Hesham Ali El Enshasy, Roshanida A. Rahman, Abdul Gafur, M. S. Reddy, Mohammad Javed Ansari, Sami Al Obaid and R. Z. Sayyed
Agronomy 2022, 12(8), 1752; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12081752 - 26 Jul 2022
Viewed by 1483
Abstract
Biocontrol agents (BCAs) added in the soil or applied to the seeds face many abiotic and biotic stress challenges. Only those BCAs that survive under harsh conditions perform well. Improving the survival of BCAs along with inhibiting the biotic stresses imposed by bacterial, [...] Read more.
Biocontrol agents (BCAs) added in the soil or applied to the seeds face many abiotic and biotic stress challenges. Only those BCAs that survive under harsh conditions perform well. Improving the survival of BCAs along with inhibiting the biotic stresses imposed by bacterial, fungal, and viral infections has been a major challenge in agriculture, especially in hot-arid climates. The present study aimed to evaluate the individual and combined effects of soil solarization and Brassica amendments on the survival of two biocontrol agents (BCAs), namely Trichoderma harzianum and Aspergillus versicolor, and on the reduction in a cumin wilt pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cumini (Foc) in a field experiment conducted for two years under hot-arid climates. BCAs performed well in the solarized pots; it caused the maximum reduction in viable F. oxysporum propagules, significantly higher at 5 cm than at 15 cm of depth. Brassica amendment with BCAs caused a greater decrease in F. oxysporum propagules (95.7 to 96.7%) compared to a combination of BCAs and solarization (91.0 to 95.7%). Combining T. harzianum with A. versicolor increased the survival of T. harzianum, whereas integration with Brassica amendment could only improve the survival of T. harzianum at a depth of 5 cm and not at lower depths. The slightest decrease in A. versicolor population at high soil temperature was estimated when combined with T. harzianum. However, combining A. versicolor with Brassica amendment improved the survival of A. versicolor at high compared to low soil temperatures. Still, elevated soil temperature reduced the viable propagules. These studies demonstrate that both the native BCAs are compatible, and their integration with the Brassica amendment improves their survival and ability to reduce the population of cumin wilt pathogen. Thus, these BCAs with Brassica amendments can survive and perform well under hot-arid climates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in PGPR (Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria))
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13 pages, 8342 KiB  
Article
Changes in Soil Microbial Community along a Chronosequence of Perennial Mugwort Cropping in Northern China Plain
by Furong Tian, Zhenxing Zhou, Xuefei Wang, Kunpeng Zhang and Shijie Han
Agronomy 2022, 12(7), 1568; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12071568 - 29 Jun 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1493
Abstract
Perennial cropping plays a vital role in regulating soil carbon sequestration and thus mitigating climate change. However, how perennial cropping affects the soil microbial community remains elusive. Using a field investigation, this study was conducted to examine the effects of mugwort cropping along [...] Read more.
Perennial cropping plays a vital role in regulating soil carbon sequestration and thus mitigating climate change. However, how perennial cropping affects the soil microbial community remains elusive. Using a field investigation, this study was conducted to examine the effects of mugwort cropping along a chronosequence (that is, wheat–maize rotation, 3-year, 6-year, and 20-year mugwort cropping) on a soil microbial community in temperate regions of Northern China. The results showed that the highest total, actinomycete, and fungi phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) were found in the 3-year mugwort cropping soils. By contrast, all PLFAs of microbial groups were lowest in the 20-year mugwort cropping soils. Network complexity of the soil microbial community under each of the three durations of mugwort cropping was greater than that under the wheat–maize rotation. Changes in total nitrogen and phosphorus content as well as the ratio of ammonium nitrogen to nitrate nitrogen primarily explained the variations in soil microbial community along the mugwort cropping chronosequence. Our observations highlight the contrasting responses of soil microbial community to short-term and long-term mugwort cropping compared with conventional rotations and would have critical implications for sustainable agricultural management under perennial cropping in temperate regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in PGPR (Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria))
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14 pages, 1409 KiB  
Article
Comparative Analysis of Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) and Chemical Fertilizers on Quantitative and Qualitative Characteristics of Rainfed Wheat
by Mohammad Hossein Sedri, Gniewko Niedbała, Ebrahim Roohi, Mohsen Niazian, Piotr Szulc, Hadi Asadi Rahmani and Vali Feiziasl
Agronomy 2022, 12(7), 1524; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12071524 - 25 Jun 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3544
Abstract
The indiscriminate use of hazardous chemical fertilizers can be reduced by applying eco-friendly smart farming technologies, such as biofertilizers. The effects of five different types of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), including Fla-wheat (F), Barvar-2 (B), Nitroxin (N1), Nitrokara (N2), and SWRI, and their [...] Read more.
The indiscriminate use of hazardous chemical fertilizers can be reduced by applying eco-friendly smart farming technologies, such as biofertilizers. The effects of five different types of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), including Fla-wheat (F), Barvar-2 (B), Nitroxin (N1), Nitrokara (N2), and SWRI, and their integration with chemical fertilizers (50% and/or 100% need-based N, P, and Zn) on the quantitative and qualitative traits of a rainfed wheat cultivar were investigated. Field experiments, in the form of randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications, were conducted at the Qamloo Dryland Agricultural Research Station in Kurdistan Province, Iran, in three cropping seasons (2016–2017, 2017–2018, and 2018–2019). All the investigated characteristics of rainfed wheat were significantly affected by the integrated application of PGPR chemical fertilizers. The grain yield of treated plants with F, B, N1, and N2 PGPR plus 50% of need-based chemical fertilizers was increased by 28%, 28%, 37%, and 33%, respectively, compared with the noninoculated control. Compared with the noninoculated control, the grain protein content was increased by 0.54%, 0.88%, and 0.34% through the integrated application of F, N1, and N2 PGPR plus 50% of need-based chemical fertilizers, respectively. A combination of Nitroxin PGPR and 100% of need-based chemical fertilizers was the best treatment to increase the grain yield (56%) and grain protein content (1%) of the Azar-2 rainfed wheat cultivar. The results of this 3-year field study showed that the integrated nutrient management of PGPR-need-based N, P, and Zn chemical fertilizers can be considered a crop management tactic to increase the yield and quality of rainfed wheat and reduce chemical fertilization and subsequent environmental pollution and could be useful in terms of sustainable rainfed crop production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in PGPR (Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria))
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20 pages, 2130 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Raw Cheese as a Novel Source of Biofertilizer with a High Level of Biosecurity for Blueberry
by Ana R. Nunes, Fernando Sánchez-Juanes, Ana C. Gonçalves, Gilberto Alves, Luís R. Silva and José David Flores-Félix
Agronomy 2022, 12(5), 1150; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12051150 - 10 May 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2120
Abstract
Today’s agriculture requires the search for new and modern tools in order to improve and expand the use of its crops and to increase their sustainability. The use of plant growth-promoting PGP bacteria (PGPB) is the target of much research and seems to [...] Read more.
Today’s agriculture requires the search for new and modern tools in order to improve and expand the use of its crops and to increase their sustainability. The use of plant growth-promoting PGP bacteria (PGPB) is the target of much research and seems to be an ideal strategy as long as the strains are properly selected for this purpose. Among the bacteria, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are considered a suitable alternative due to their high biosafety and mechanisms for promoting plant growth. In view of this, in this work we decided to isolate LAB with PGP capacity from raw milk cheese of the PDO “Serra da Estrela”. A total of 88 strains with a high diversity and remarkable capacity to control food-borne and pathogenic microorganisms were isolated. In addition, most of them showed excellent capacities for phosphate solubilization and the production of indole-3-acetic acid and siderophores. Subsequently, we also studied their inoculation in blueberry seedlings. Among the isolates, strains QSE20, QSE62 and QSE79 showed the most remarkable ability to efficiently colonize the rhizosphere of this plant, improving root development and increasing the number of secondary roots. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in PGPR (Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria))
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13 pages, 1883 KiB  
Article
From the Lab to the Field: Combined Application of Plant-Growth-Promoting Bacteria for Mitigation of Salinity Stress in Melon Plants
by Vinoj Gopalakrishnan, Saul Burdman, Edouard Jurkevitch and Yael Helman
Agronomy 2022, 12(2), 408; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12020408 - 6 Feb 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1950
Abstract
Soil salinization is a major and increasing problem adversely impacting plant growth and crop production. Accordingly, coping with this problem has become a central topic in agriculture. In this study, we address this issue by evaluating the potential effectiveness of two bacterial species, [...] Read more.
Soil salinization is a major and increasing problem adversely impacting plant growth and crop production. Accordingly, coping with this problem has become a central topic in agriculture. In this study, we address this issue by evaluating the potential effectiveness of two bacterial species, Azospirillum brasilense and Paenibacillus dendritiformis, in enhancing growth and yield of melon and tomato plants under salinity stress. In vitro laboratory experiments indicated that these bacteria can efficiently colonize plant roots, and increase root length (25–33%) and root biomass (46–210%) of three melon plant varieties under saline stress. Similarly, greenhouse experiments showed that these bacteria significantly induced root (78–102%) and shoot weights (37–57%) of the three melon varieties irrigated with saline water. Tomato plants grown under the same conditions did not exhibit growth deficiency upon exposure to the saline stress and their growth was not enhanced in response to bacterial inoculation. Interestingly, saline-stressed melon plants inoculated with P. dendritiformis and A. brasilense exhibited lower total antioxidant activity compared to un-inoculated plants (80% vs. 60% of DPPH radical scavenging activity, respectively), suggesting that the inoculated plants experienced lower stress levels. These positive effects were further manifested by an increase of 16% in the crop yield of melon plants grown in the field under standard agricultural fertilization practices, but irrigated with saline water. Overall, these results demonstrate the beneficial effects of two plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria, which can significantly alleviate the negative outcome of salt stress. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in PGPR (Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria))
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