Microbes in agriculture
Microbial inoculants such as certain bacteria and fungi can promote plant growth and mitigate abiotic and biotic stress.
In modern agriculture, microbial inoculants are widely used and seen as sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives to chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
Plant-benefiting microbes used for soil inoculations are often isolated from extreme environments and introduced in new foreign environments.
It is difficult to predict if and how the introduced microbes alter the native microbiome in the soil; in the worst case, they might become invasive species.
The risk posed by the introduction of non-native alien microbes into agricultural soils has been mostly neglected until now and needs to be seriously considered and studied.
https://www.cell.com/trends/plant-science/fulltext/S1360-1385(25)00256-0
