Biostimulants / bio-effectors is now a multi-billion dollar industry but does it work on established plantation crops / trees like coffee?
Some thougths:
- Diversity and composition of microbial communities in soils and plant are highly diverse and often adapted (read evolved) to specific agro-ecological conditions.
- Once planted, crops are quickly ‘colonized’ by these natural communities – once they occupy a space on/in the plant, it’s difficult for newly (externally) introduced species to create a space and take a place. Several bio- control options are based on this ‘first come, first served’ principle.
- The best opportunity to introduce more ‘competitive’ microbial actors in/on the plant is at tissue culture (=sterile), seed (coating) or seedling stage. Many exciting pot trial results, but I’ve not seen it work on established crops.
- Inoculated seedlings/plantlets can particularly bring a competitive edge during the establishment phase (i.e. weeks/months) – that’s perfect for annual crops but subsequently makes it more difficult to sustain this positive effect in perennial systems.
The fact that it’s practically very difficult to use microbial inoculants to improve performance established cropping systems does not make it impossible, but it’s a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack ….and once found seems difficult to repeat over space and time. Anybody has any good (unbiased) evidence / lessons to share?
Very pertinent question and you summarised all four thoughts , including coffee, so impressively.And all of them apply effectively to coffee as well , conceptually...
Well, issue is really interesting but least documented.I agree with thoughts shared by Piet.
On bio-stimulants and particularly those exploiting broad jasmonic acid pathway responses I have yet to see convincing evidence either way. I would be very interested to see some well designed trials.
If by 'microbial inoculants' you mean mycorrhizal fungi, I would suggest that you examine what species you already have in the roots of your crops, and seriously consider the reason you require the introduction of other species. There is insufficient information on the effects of introduced inoculum on indigenous species, for example how long they are likely to survive in the new environment, how competitive they are with the native species, and whether or not they actually do anything. Refer to Hart, Antunes, Chaudhary and Abbott (2017), 'Fungal inoculants in the field: Is the reward greater than the risk?' Functional Ecology 1:10, 1-10.
Thanks Lynda! - I had not seen the paper of Hart et al. yet, but just read it and it confirms that we're looking at a major knowledge gap when it comes to understanding the risks and benefits of inoculants. Meanwhile, the industry is not sitting still....
Very interesting read! My question was not limited to AMF, but certainly included it. Evidence of other 'bio-effectors' (organic extracts, bacteria, endophytes) in plantation crops also have my interest.
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