How Science is Unlocking More Nutrients in the Soil
Across the history of agriculture, the soil beneath our feet has been an unexplored frontier. New discoveries are showing how plants and microbes interact in order to provide the plant with more nutrients. One area that is particularly exciting is gaining a better understanding of how plants and microbes ‘communicate’ using natural biochemistry, exchanging signals that influence both plant and microbial physiology. That’s where the SOURCE story starts. First, it’s important to understand how nitrogen fixation and phosphate solubilization work.
Free living nitrogen fixation
Nitrogen is the most important nutrient in agriculture, impacting overall plant health and yield potential. Through a process known as biological nitrogen fixation, specialized bacteria called diazotrophs “fix” atmospheric nitrogen, making it available to the plant. The most well-understood example of this type of nitrogen fixation is found in legumes, such as soybean and alfalfa, where bacteria fix nitrogen inside plant root nodules. This symbiotic relationship is critically important in agriculture and nutrient cycling, but does not exist in cereal crops like corn and wheat.
There are different diazotrophic bacteria that perform free living nitrogen fixation without the need for a host plant. Although these bacteria are less understood than their symbiotic counterparts, interest in how they work is increasing because of their potential use as a source of sustainable fertilizer to help promote plant growth.
Read the full article here:
https://www.sound-ag.com/blog-post/how-science-is-working-to-unlock-more-nutrients-in-the-soil/
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