also need to be tailormade in such
a way that it outcompetes native
strains, both beneficials and antagonists (or at least complement in
the case of the former), where
crops are cultivated. Although the
benefits of the interrelationship
between microbes and plants have
been known for quite some time, it
remains a challenge to channel the
release of nutrients to its immediate
hosts in a timely manner, or socalled targeted delivery to the intended recipient. Therefore, a lot
of the current studies involving
plant-microbe interactions aim to
understand the intecrate
‘mechanics’ around the sensing and
inevitable harmonised delivery for
maximum benefit to facilitate the
plant host to overcome environmental challenges. Likewise, as
important as it is to understand
how benefits of crop capture of
nutrients are translated into better
productivity, so too it has become
majorly important to show how
disease suppression could be facilitated by beneficial microorganisms.
Micro managing is fast emerging as
a viable and suitable alternative to
address the pitfalls of the more traditional macro management approaches. In recent years, the popularity of global positioning system
(GPS) technology to tailor inputs
and map productivity to specific
geographical locations within a
field setting have gained momentum. This has been used as a
‘springboard’ to conceptualize the
so-called ‘smart-field’ aproach in
which environmental probes based
on nanosensors for agroecosystem
monitoring are placed strategically
across a plot of land (Welbaum et
al., 2004; Weekley et al., 2012).
Firstly, this would effectively enable
the farmer to fine-tune in real time
(and over time) and at multiple lo-
cations, the field soil conditions
(e.g. temperature, aeration, sugar
content, etc.). Subsequently, the
farmer would be able to target an
appropriate intervention to stimulate growth-promoting cropassociated microorganisms. Moreover, farmers would also be able to
beforehand make decisions on
where to plant their ‘cash’ crops to
realise its best possible yield potential; thus, by redesigning the agroecosystem so that it functions on the
basis of ecological processes and
interr elationships.
The time has come to boldly go
where few have dared to tread.
There are numerous encouraging
signs that the conversion process to
sustainability in our entire food system is under way. Even more exciting, is that some farmers have participated actively with agricultural
researchers (and other stakeholders)
to bring some of the newer tech-
Fig. 1: Potential use of soil microbes in sustainable crop production (Source: Bhardwaj et al., 2014; Microbial Cell
Factories 13: 66-76).