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Plant Nutrition for Environmental and Production Sustainability

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2023) | Viewed by 3769

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Dr. Xiaoyan Tang

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Guest Editor

College of Resources, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Interests: plant nutrient; rhizosphere ecology; plant-soil-microbial interaction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Usman Irshad

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Guest Editor

Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus 22060, Pakistan
Interests: soil microbiology; microbial ecology; sustainable/natural ecosystem functioning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

To ensure future food security, resource sustainability, and feeding the world’s growing population, continuously increasing the crop yield with less chemical inputs on a limited space of land is necessary. Plant nutrition is a science that fundamentally impacts all aspects of cropping systems, environmental sustainability, and human health and wellbeing. Over the past several decades, the over-use of chemical fertilizers has been the main practice to maintain crop yields, resulting in environmental problems and mineral toxicities in relation to agricultural soils. Therefore, new agricultural practices, comprehensive nutrient management, and new fertilizer products and plant breeding strategies should be adopted to enhance nutrient-use efficiency and agricultural production sustainability, and to reduce negative environmental impacts. However, our understanding of how the “plant–soil–microbe interaction” affects mineral elements absorbed by crops and alleviates soil mineral toxicities remains limited, despite the recent studies emerging as an attempt to unravel and present the mechanisms by which these processes occur.

The contributions to the gaps in the knowledge include new practices, such as the intercropping and/or multiple cropping systems used to enhance nutrient-use efficiency and soil fertility; plant breeding to enhance nutrient-use efficiency or nutrient-uptake efficiency from the soil; new fertilizer products used to enhance the nutrient-use efficiency of crops; new products used to enhance healthy soil and alleviate soil pollution; PGPR to assist in the nutrient uptake by crops; agricultural waste recycling to enhance soil fertility; and the optimization of fertilizer applications for economic and environmental sustainability.

The current Special Issue is a collection of studies that advance our understanding of how sustainable agriculture can enhance nutrient-use efficiency, and explore the underlying mechanisms used to potentially achieve environmental and production sustainability. The current Special Issue will mostly consist of experimental studies complemented by reviews and opinion papers on the topics associated with “root–soil–microbial interaction to enhance nutrient-use efficiency”. In particular, we encourage submissions of experimental papers involving:

An understanding of the plant–soil–microbe interaction under different farming practices; Realistic longer-term, field, or mesocosm studies.

We also encourage submissions of papers that explore the meta-analytic, novel technological, or modeling approaches used to understand enhanced nutrient-use efficiency, soil fertility, and reduced environmental impact.

Dr. Xiaoyan Tang
Dr. Usman Irshad
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

plant–soil–microbe interaction
nutrient-use efficiency
soil fertility
soil element toxicities

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2189 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Combinatorial Effects of Glycine and Inorganic Nitrogen on Root Growth and Nitrogen Nutrition in Maize (Zea mays L.)

by Jiamin Wu, Siru Chen, Yunze Ruan and Wei Gao

Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14122; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914122 - 24 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1165

Abstract

Organic and inorganic nitrogen play important roles in plant nitrogen nutrition. However, how the coapplication of organic and inorganic nitrogen affects root growth, plant nitrogen metabolism, and soil nitrogen content is still unclear. Plant shoot and root growth, nitrogen uptake and metabolism, and soil nitrogen content were studied in maize (Zea mays L.) through pot experiments with different nitrogen treatments, including NH₄⁺ -N (Amm), NO₃⁻ -N (Nit), NH₄⁺ -N + NO₃⁻ -N (Amm + Nit), NH₄⁺ -N + NO₃⁻ -N + glutamate-N (Amm + Nit + Glu), and NH₄⁺ -N + NO₃⁻ -N + glycine-N (Amm + Nit + Gly). The results show that the shoot nitrogen uptake of maize treated with Amm + Nit + Gly was the highest among all the nitrogen treatments. In addition, the coapplication of glycine and inorganic nitrogen increased glutamine synthetase (GS) activity in the maize leaves, promoted nitrogen metabolism levels, and was conducive to the accumulation of amino acids and soluble protein in leaves. Compared with inorganic nitrogen, glycine combined with inorganic nitrogen increased the total root length and root surface area. A correlation analysis showed that total root length and root surface area had a significant positive effect on nitrogen uptake. When ammonium, nitrate, and glycine were applied together, the content of inorganic nitrogen and total nitrogen in soil was higher than that for other inorganic nitrogen treatments. Therefore, we conclude that glycine combined with inorganic nitrogen can increase soil nitrogen content, promote maize root growth, and thus facilitate nitrogen uptake and metabolism. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Nutrition for Environmental and Production Sustainability)

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22 pages, 6017 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Combined Application of Organic and Inorganic Nitrogen and Seed Inoculation with Rhizobacteria (Stenotrophomonas maltophilia FA-9) Improved Productivity, Nitrogen Use Efficiency, and Economic Returns of Pearl Millet

by Ahmad Dawood, Abdul Majeed, Sami Ul-Allah, Muhammad Naveed, Shahid Farooq, Naeem Sarwar and Mubshar Hussain

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 8248; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15108248 - 18 May 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1077

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) availability and soil microbiota exert significant impacts on plant metabolic systems and yield. Different studies have indicated that yield and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.R.Br.) can be improved by the inoculation of N-fixing bacteria. However, the interactive effects of different N sources and bacteria inoculation on growth, productivity, and NUE of pearl millet have been less explored. Therefore, individual and interactive effects of different N sources (organic and inorganic) and bacteria inoculation on growth, productivity, and NUE of pearl millet were investigated in this study. Two different N sources, i.e., organic (farmyard manure) and inorganic (urea) alone or in 50% + 50% combinations (urea + FYM), were used to supply the recommended amount of N. Similarly, seeds were inoculated with two different N-fixing bacteria, i.e., endobacteria (Enterobacter sp. MN17) and rhizobacteria (Stenotrophomonas maltophilia FA-9). Urea + farmyard manure (FYM) and seed inoculation rhizobacteria improved soil attributes, yield-related traits, grain quality, NUE, and net economic returns. Soil porosity was significantly improved by seed inoculation with both bacteria and FYM application. Similarly, seed inoculation with rhizobacteria increased soil organic carbon by 45.45% and 34.88% during the 1st and 2nd year of the study, respectively. Urea + FYM application combined with rhizobacteria seed inoculation improved the number of grains per ear (23.49 and 23.63%), 1000-grain weight (5.76% and 7.85%), grain yield (23.19% and 25.0%), and NUE (33.83 and 48.15%). Similarly, grain quality was significantly improved by seed inoculation with both bacteria. Likewise, urea + FYM combined with rhizobacteria improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) by 33.83% and 48.15% in 2020 and 2021, respectively, compared to no N application and no seed inoculation. The highest economic returns (1506.4 and 1506.9 USD) were noted for urea + FYM application combined with rhizobacteria seed inoculation. Therefore, urea + FYM application combined with rhizobacteria (S. maltophilia FA-9) seed inoculation seemed a viable approach to improve grain yield, grain quality, NUE, and net economic returns of pearl millet. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Nutrition for Environmental and Production Sustainability)

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12 pages, 8621 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparative Evaluation of Microbially-Produced Biostimulants on Peanut Growth

by Wuyong Zheng, Jing Dai, Ning Li, Hongtao Zhao, Haibin Chang, Xing Liao, Feng Sheng and Lu Qin

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 8025; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15108025 - 15 May 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1072

Abstract

Improper fertilization has become an essential factor limiting peanut yield and quality improvement. To improve peanut yield and quality, the effects of different fertilizer additives on peanut growth and yield were investigated. In this work, the effects of four fertilizer additives produced by microorganisms (CL, T6, T4, and P1) on peanut growth and yield were evaluated through pot and field trials. The results indicated that all fertilizer additives significantly increased the branch number and biomass of peanuts compared to the control. Additionally, T6 and CL treatments led to significantly higher peanut yields in the field. The aboveground nitrogen concentration of peanuts treated with CL and T6 was also significantly higher than that of the control, while T4 treatment did not show a significant difference. Overall, CL and T6 had the best positive effect on the growth of peanuts. The potential application values of CL and T6 in peanuts showed that fertilizer additives produced by microorganisms could be used as effective measures to achieve highly efficient production in agriculture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Nutrition for Environmental and Production Sustainability)

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