A Review of the Role of Soil Microbiomes in Enhancing Crop Productivity

Abstract

Soil is an essential component of the ecosystem, supporting terrestrial living forms. Healthy soil promotes the functioning of ecosystem services by improving the condition of flora and fauna. Soil health involves the management of physiochemical and biological capabilities to sustain all forms of life and their growth and development. Soil is one of Earth's most biologically diverse habitats, hosting many microorganisms. Soil biodiversity enhances significant ecosystem functions. Plant, soil, and extreme environments' microbiomes show exceptional qualities pertinent to managing global nutrient balances and ecosystem functions. These microbiomes derived from different niches enhanced plant growth and productivity through nutrient solubilization, nitrogen fixation, availability of nutrients, and tolerance against biotic and abiotic stresses. Soil microbes are bacteria, viruses, fungi, nematodes, and protozoa. They have an important soil function that has accomplished multiple useful tasks in the soil system, helping biological nitrogen fixation of different biological transformations that support the accumulation and utilization of nutrients, provide root and shoot growth processes, disease control, and promote soil quality in crop cultivation. This review has implications for the huge opportunities represented by soil microbes in sustainable agricultural growth by discussing their benefits in managing soil health and their interactions. Emerging new molecular techniques such as high throughput DNA sequencing and metagenomics are transforming our ability to study new information on specific genomes and genes from soil samples. Soil microbial diversity can be characterized and quantified using these new techniques, allowing for an examination of their implications for communities of plants, agricultural systems, agronomic activities, and soil richness.