Sustainable approaches in modern agriculture: The role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Pubblicazione Scopus
Authors: Domenico Prisa; Aftab Jamal

Sustainable approaches in modern agriculture: The role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Multidisciplinary Reviews, 8(7), 2025245. https://doi.org/10.31893/multirev.2025245

Abstract

An effective, practical, and sustainable nutritional crop supplementation strategy for crops is achievable through the application of biostimulants, which can also mitigateenvironmental issues associated with excessive fertilization. Plants benefit from biostimulants when their metabolism is increased, which leads to higher yields and improved quality crops; it protects plants from stress caused by water shortage, soil salinization, and suboptimal growth temperatures; and it promotes plant growth by increasing nutrient absorption. In addition, it enhances soil fertility by nurturing the development of complementary soil microbes, enhancing soil enzymatic and microbial activity, changing root architecture, enhancing micronutrient solubility and mobility, and changing root architecture. It is possible to categorize biostimulants as microbial, such as arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi (AMF), plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), nonpathogenic fungi, protozoa, and nematodes, or nonmicrobial, such as seaweed extract, phosphite, humic acid, other inorganic salts, chitin and chitosan derivatives, protein hydrolysates, free amino acids, and complex organic materials. It is important for sustainable agriculture to cultivate better, healthier, and more functional foods with the help of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, which are among the best known microbial biostimulants. As a sustainable and environmentally friendly source of crop supplements, AMF helps plants acquire nutrients and water, improves plant stress tolerance for salinity, drought, and heavy metals, and reduces soil erosion. To better understand how biostimulants can be used in sustainable agriculture, further studies are needed. Several examples of how biostimulants can be used to produce various crops are presented in the current manuscript. This review presents examples of biostimulant applications in various crops and discusses the role of AMF in bridging yield gaps between organic and conventional farming by improving nutrient availability, uptake, and assimilation, thus addressing the nutrient limitations often found in organic systems.

#micorrize #microrganismi #biostimolazione #crescitapiante