Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis has enormous potential as a sustainable strategy to stimulate plant growth, yield and quality. Its efficacy seems to depend on an optimal interaction zone, mediated by the symbiont species involved and edaphic conditions.
▶ One of the greatest challenges facing agriculture is the evaluation of the functional diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in food crops, in order to increase the predictability of the beneficial effects of AM inoculants, allowing the identification of morphospecies of high, medium and low efficacy, as well as those of no efficacy or parasitic.
Knowing the scope of this challenge would imply for modern agriculture to solve the problems and questions generated by the impact on ecosystems, in addition to focusing its interest in the development of research that justifies an agriculture based on fertilization through the use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
▶ After the burning of fossil fuels, conventional agricultural systems, characterized by monocultures dependent on high inputs, are one of the main human activities responsible for the progressive deterioration of natural production factors (climate, soil, water, flora and fauna).
This progressive deterioration causes and alters biogeochemical cycles, loss of biodiversity and disruption of the fragile fabric of community interactions, among other negative impacts.
▶ To reduce the high production costs and poor sustainability of agrochemical dependence in agroecosystems, the use of bioinputs as modulators of the plant microbiome is becoming increasingly important.
Promote complex biological interactions that favor functional biodiversity and, therefore, the production and yield of agricultural systems, with minimal or no dependence on agrochemicals, with a significant reduction in damage to the natural environment and to the economy and human health.
Functional biodiversity promotes simultaneous favorable changes in several agroecological components and processes, which are achieved through multifunctional agroecological technologies that favor natural processes and biological interactions that optimize synergies so that agrobiodiversity is able to subsidize key processes on its own.
The accumulation of organic matter, soil fertility, biotic regulation mechanisms for pests and diseases, and crop productivity. These processes are crucial, as they condition the sustainability of the agroecosystem. Among these biotechnological strategies, the use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) stands out as a fundamental biological resource for the sustainability of socioeconomically important agricultural systems.