Legume Biofortification and the Role of Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria in a Sustainable Agricultural Era

Roriz, Mariana; Carvalho, S.M.P.; Castro, Paula M. L.; Vasconcelos, Marta W.

doi:10.3390/agronomy10030435

Cited by 36 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 100 publications

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“…More refined estimates of human nutrition consider different aspects, such protein quality via, for example, the amino acid profile (Leinonen et al, 2019), or other bioavailable micronutrients (which may be enhanced by cultivation and biofortification strategies). Biofortification can be achieved through different methods, such as conventional plant breeding, genetic engineering, agronomics tactics, and more recently plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) strategies (Roriz et al, 2020). The latter, for instance, improves crop yields and also iron availability for human diets (an aspect not assessed in this study).…”

Section: Assessing Sustainable Human Nutritionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact

Costa

Reckling

Chadwick

et al. 2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Introducing legumes to crop rotations could contribute toward healthy and sustainable diet transitions, but the current evidence base is fragmented across studies that evaluate specific aspects of sustainability and nutrition in isolation. Few previous studies have accounted for interactions among crops, or the aggregate nutritional output of rotations, to benchmark the efficiency of modified cropping sequences. We applied life cycle assessment to compare the environmental efficiency of ten rotations across three European climatic zones in terms of delivery of human and livestock nutrition. The introduction of grain legumes into conventional cereal and oilseed rotations delivered human nutrition at lower environmental cost for most of the 16 impact categories studied. In Scotland, the introduction of a legume crop into the typical rotation reduced external nitrogen requirements by almost half to achieve the same human nutrition potential. In terms of livestock nutrition, legume-modified rotations also delivered more digestible protein at lower environmental cost compared with conventional rotations. However, legume-modified rotations delivered less metabolisable energy for livestock per hectare-year in two out of the three zones, and at intermediate environmental cost for one zone. Our results show that choice of functional unit has an important influence on the apparent efficiency of different crop rotations, and highlight a need for more research to develop functional units representing multiple nutritional attributes of crops for livestock feed. Nonetheless, results point to an important role for increased legume cultivation in Europe to contribute to the farm and diet sustainability goals of the European Union's Farm to Fork strategy.

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Section: Assessing Sustainable Human Nutritionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact

Costa

Reckling

Chadwick

et al. 2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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“…The strong affinity of microbial siderophores for Fe allows them to compete with plants by 'stealing' Fe from low-affinity phytosiderophores [33,45,47]. Despite this capability, numerous studies demonstrated a beneficial relationship between the presence of PGPMs and Fe accumulation by plants [43,[48][49][50].…”

Section: Fe Mobilization By Microbesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Microbial biofortification of Fe in plants can occur via several mechanisms: the presence of PGPMs can induce increased root hair proliferation and branching, trigger plant biochemical responses to Fe limitation, and prevent Fe acquisition by phytopathogenic microbes [43,[48][49][50]. In addition, there is also considerable evidence that plants can utilise microbial siderophores, which appear to be dictated by the plants' Fe acquisition strategies.…”

Section: Fe Mobilization By Microbesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Micronutrients in Food Production: What Can We Learn from Natural Ecosystems?

Denton-Thompson

Sayer

2022

Soil Systems

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Soil micronutrients limit crop productivity in many regions worldwide, and micronutrient deficiencies affect over two billion people globally. Microbial biofertilizers could combat these issues by inoculating arable soils with microorganisms that mobilize micronutrients, increasing their availability to crop plants in an environmentally sustainable and cost-effective manner. However, the widespread application of biofertilizers is limited by complex micronutrient–microbe–plant interactions, which reduce their effectiveness under field conditions. Here, we review the current state of seven micronutrients in food production. We examine the mechanisms underpinning microbial micronutrient mobilization in natural ecosystems and synthesize the state-of-knowledge to improve our overall understanding of biofertilizers in food crop production. We demonstrate that, although soil micronutrient concentrations are strongly influenced by soil conditions, land management practices can also substantially affect micronutrient availability and uptake by plants. The effectiveness of biofertilizers varies, but several lines of evidence indicate substantial benefits in co-applying biofertilizers with conventional inorganic or organic fertilizers. Studies of micronutrient cycling in natural ecosystems provide examples of microbial taxa capable of mobilizing multiple micronutrients whilst withstanding harsh environmental conditions. Research into the mechanisms of microbial nutrient mobilization in natural ecosystems could, therefore, yield effective biofertilizers to improve crop nutrition under global changes.

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“…400 kg N ha -1 [85][86][87]. Legumes improve soil quality, enhance C and N cycling, and reduce pollution [88][89][90][91], [Crop diversification]). They are therefore environmentally more sustainable than using external mineral or animalderived fertiliser inputs [36], especially where forage legumes and inter-cropping are used ([Crop diversification], [92,93]).…”

Section: Soil Carbon and Nutrient Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

Agroecological practices for whole-system sustainability

2021

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Current food production systems are major contributors to the environmental degradation that leads to climate change and biodiversity loss. Levels of production required for future food security cannot be met by further increases in inputs of non-renewable resources. The world's food crops must therefore be managed in a sustainable way that maintains long-term ecological functioning, including nutrient, carbon and water cycles, soil quality, primary productivity, microbe-plant associations, pest and pathogen regulation, pollination and arable food web resilience. All of these are determined by agronomic practices at local and regional scales, and all are sustained by the abundance, diversity and functional composition of plants, microbes and invertebrates in the farmed ecosystem. Presence of viable populations and communities of these organisms is therefore essential for system resilience. Long-term sustainability must rely more heavily on the internal generation of products and regulatory ecosystem services than on external inputs. Fully closed systems are impossible to achieve in agriculture as the product is removed for human consumption. There is ample evidence, however, that semi-closed, regenerative, systems can harness the ecosystem services provided by functional biodiversity to enhance crop production whilst simultaneously improving environmental quality. Here, agroecological alternatives to intensive farming practices are reviewed, focusing on key functional indicators and whole-system integration of practical management options designed to achieve multiple beneficial outcomes at field and farm scales.

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Legume Biofortification and the Role of Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria in a Sustainable Agricultural Era

Cited by 36 publications

References 100 publications

Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact

Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact

Micronutrients in Food Production: What Can We Learn from Natural Ecosystems?

Agroecological practices for whole-system sustainability

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