TY - JOUR
T1 - Friends to the rescue : using arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to future-proof Australian agriculture
AU - Heuck, Meike Katharina
AU - Birnbaum, Christina
AU - Frew, Adam
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - With a rising global population and the challenges of climate change, there is an increasing need to find solutions to maintain crop yields in an ecologically sustainable way. Although many studies have focussed on this issue, comparatively few are conducted in the southern hemisphere. This is worrisome because the geographical and geomorphological conditions within Australia differ greatly from the northern hemisphere. To ensure food security, approaches can rely on conventional agricultural methods as well as commercial arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal inoculants. Both approaches lack the capacity to be successful in the long term or could have unknown negative effects on the naturally occurring microbial communities. We advocate for a sustainable and holistic approach that combines the effective management of functionally diverse AM fungal communities with precision farming techniques while integrating landscape elements into agricultural fields. In addition, landowners and scientists should collaborate and communicate their work with industry and government to take forward the shift to a more-sustainable agriculture. In this way, we will be better able to secure our food production while restoring our soil ecosystems.
AB - With a rising global population and the challenges of climate change, there is an increasing need to find solutions to maintain crop yields in an ecologically sustainable way. Although many studies have focussed on this issue, comparatively few are conducted in the southern hemisphere. This is worrisome because the geographical and geomorphological conditions within Australia differ greatly from the northern hemisphere. To ensure food security, approaches can rely on conventional agricultural methods as well as commercial arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal inoculants. Both approaches lack the capacity to be successful in the long term or could have unknown negative effects on the naturally occurring microbial communities. We advocate for a sustainable and holistic approach that combines the effective management of functionally diverse AM fungal communities with precision farming techniques while integrating landscape elements into agricultural fields. In addition, landowners and scientists should collaborate and communicate their work with industry and government to take forward the shift to a more-sustainable agriculture. In this way, we will be better able to secure our food production while restoring our soil ecosystems.
UR - https://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:72926
U2 - 10.1071/MA23002
DO - 10.1071/MA23002
M3 - Article
SN - 1324-4272
VL - 44
SP - 5
EP - 8
JO - Microbiology Australia
JF - Microbiology Australia
IS - 1
ER -