Crop Management: Partners In Production
Since the beginning of time plants have relied on their important relationship with the unseen ecosystem below. Before we started to intervene in production, plants were able to receive all the essential elements of life by interacting or trading with the life in the soil. As we better understand this relationship, we can focus on what plants have been telling us all along — the microbial world is vital to crop health and ultimately global food production.
Free Fertilizer
Plants create sugar (carbon) through photosynthesis, but they cannot survive on sugar alone. They recruit the help of microbes by trading their sugars for the vital components that plants need to survive. The plant is able to determine which nutrient it is deficient in, and release specific exudates (sugar) to attract specific microbes that tend to mine that mineral. Those specific microbes create a barrier around the root and release the precise nutrients in the exact place the plant requires it. “Plants create their own microbial community,” says Jill Clapperton, principal scientist with Rhizoterra Inc., a soil health firm.
Microbes are also able to release “free fertilizer” from the soil and convert it to a bioavailable form for plants; in conjunction the microbial world is able to use applied fertilizer more efficiently. Much of the applied fertilizer doesn’t get taken in by the plant and is wasted. However, with the help of the life in the soil the fertilizer is able to be converted to a form that is usable for crops. In addition, bacteria are able to use the excess nutrients for their own growth and release them at a later time. Agronomist Ken Ferrie stated, “For example, we tend to think we are applying fertilizer to feed crop plants, but those nutrients must be processed by microorganisms and then released to plants.” Microbes can be thought of as the bridge that allows applied fertilizer to cross into the plant.
Defensive Properties
The life of plants and microbes hinge on the existence of each other. The unseen world in the soil is able to help communicate and protect plants in times of stress. Through fungal connections between different plant roots, crops are able to engage an entire communication network that warns of environmental or pathogen stresses and responds appropriately. Also, specific bacteria synthesize antibiotics to kill or inhibit pathogenic microbes. “Many of the antibiotics humans use to treat infections are derived from bacteria or fungi,” states the American Academy of Microbiology. Plants are able to distinguish between good and bad microbial partners and draw the beneficial communities to the root zone. This allows microbes to build a barrier around the root, like an armored wall, to compete and push out any unwanted pathogens.
Plants and microbes have been on the same team since the beginning of time, and as we continue to learn from them we realize the numerous benefits life in the soil can bring to production. The American Academy of Microbiology states, “Microbes support plant health by increasing the availability of nutrients, enhancing plant root growth, neutralizing toxic compounds in the soil, making plants more resistant to disease, heat, flooding, and drought and deterring pathogens and predators. Microbes and plants are intimate partners in virtually every life process.” As we understand this relationship better we can look beyond perfecting one area of production. Instead, we can broaden our view and consider the entire ecosystem that ultimately encompasses and makes up each farm — its soil.
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