Microbial Inoculants for Improved Soil Nutrient Accessibility and Maintenance of Soil Fertility

With a projected 10 billion global population, food security needs to be addressed urgently. For sustaining global food security, agricultural output must be increased to face changing climate conditions. To enhance the yield of crops, inorganic chemical fertilizers are widely utilized in conventional agricultural practices; however, they are associated with several detrimental impacts on the environment and human health. Bioinoculants are environmentally friendly and extremely effective and can be used as biopesticides that have no negative effects on plants. Microbial inoculants are soil-amended to improve various soil-related processes and plant growth; they enclose helpful microorganisms, i.e., bacteria, fungi, or archaea. These inoculants may be extremely important for enhancing nutrient accessibility and preserving soil fertility. These microbial inoculants’ field efficacies are still variable because they are employed under various farming environments, climates, and management techniques. Finding answers to limitations and application challenges, as well as discovering additional microbial inoculants for unknown areas, is thus a never-ending process. On the other hand, the quality of bioinoculants is the main key issue as private companies tend to give little care to quality standards. Therefore, to increase soil nutrient accessibility and fertility, and ensure the sustainability and productivity of field and horticultural crops, qualitative bioinoculants should be used.