Chapter 27 - Deciphering soil microbiota using metagenomic approach for sustainable agriculture: an overview

Abstract

Soil represents the major pool of microbial diversity which influences the soil health, soil structure and nutrient cycling. It is now well established that only 1% of the microbes are culturable under laboratory conditions while 99% remain to be explored. The advent of metagenomics approach has greatly help in exploring the microbial biodiversity hidden in the soil. Apart from being a great reservoir of novel genes and enzymes, natural compounds, bioactive substances and bioprocesses, the microbiota representing soil can substantially contribute towards sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture is the need of the hour to cope up with the global demand for attaining both food and nutritional security for the increasing population. The microbial communities associated with the enhanced crop production and providing tolerance towards biotic and abiotic stresses are still to be explored on larger scale. Metagenomics methods covering with high throughput techniques and computational tools have greatly facilitated the understanding of the hidden microbial ecosystem needed for sustainable agriculture practice. The establishment of association of microbes with the agriculturally important crops may help in creating a compatible soil ecosystem for a crop thereby avoiding the frequent use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides leading towards a sustainable agri-system.