Cropland usually Numerous pathogens attack plants and reduce their performance. A Swiss research team has shown that inoculating soil with mycorrhizal fungi can help maintain and even increase yields. without using fertilizer or pesticide In addition. In a large-scale field trial, plant yield increased by up to 40%.
Intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides in fields reduces biodiversity and pollutes the environment. Therefore, there is great interest in finding sustainable ways to preserve crops without using agricultural chemicals. An example of alternative biological products: mycorrhizal fungi, which are beneficial organisms that help plants to obtain food.
Efficiency increased by up to 40%
A research team from the universities of Zurich and Basel (Switzerland), Agroscope and the Research Institute for Organic Agriculture (FiBL) has demonstrated for the first time on a large scale that the field application of mycorrhizal fungi works on a practical level. . The fungi were mixed into soil before planting crops in 800 test plots on 54 maize farms in northern and eastern Switzerland.
“In a quarter of the plots, mycorrhizal fungi resulted in up to 40% better yields. “This is a lot,” says study co-director Marcel van der Heijden, a soil ecologist at the University of Zurich and Asgroscope. But there is a problem: In one third of the land, productivity did not increase, and sometimes the amount of land did not even increase initially. The research team could not explain why this happened.
Investigating the reasons for this, researchers analyzed various chemical, physical and biological properties of soil, including the biodiversity of soil microbes. ““We found that inoculation works best when there are already a lot of fungal pathogens in the soil.”says co-lead author Stefanie Lutz of Agroscope, the federal competitive center for agricultural research:
“Mycorrhizal fungi act as a kind of protective shield against soil pathogens that can weaken plants.” As a result, normal yields can be maintained in fields where losses would occur without mycorrhizal fungi. In contrast, mycorrhizal fungi had only a minor effect in fields not contaminated with pathogens.
“The plants in this case are already strong and growing perfectly. The use of mycorrhizal fungi in these cases does not bring any additional benefit,” says other first author Natacha Bodenhausen from the Research Institute of Biological Agriculture.
Predict where it will work best
The aim of the study was to predict under what conditions mycorrhizal inoculation works.
“With just a few soil indicators, especially fungi, We were able to predict grafting success in nine out of 10 fields and therefore predict crop yield Even before the field season,” says study co-director Klaus Schläppi from the University of Basel.
“This predictability allows the use of mushrooms to be directed in the areas where they will operate.”. This is a crucial element in turning these technologies into a reliable agricultural method,” says Schläppi.
More research is still needed to discover the easiest way to spread the fungi over large areas. However, Marcel van der Heijden concludes, “The results of this field experiment represent a major step towards more sustainable agriculture.”
Reference work: DOI: 10.1038/s41564-023-01520-w
……………………
Contact address of the environmental department:[email protected]