Kenya hosts soil health summit. | Environmental Sciences | Farmer's Weekly | EBSCO Research

<p>The article focuses on the decline of Africa's food production capacity due to poor soil health, exacerbated by climate change effects. It discussed the experts warn of potential food shortages unless urgent management of soil fertility deficiencies is implemented, as erosion, overgrazing, nitrogen loss, and deforestation have accelerated soil degradation on the continent.</p>

Kenya hosts soil health summit. | Environmental Sciences | Farmer's Weekly | EBSCO Research

<p>The article focuses on the decline of Africa's food production capacity due to poor soil health, exacerbated by climate change effects. It discussed the experts warn of potential food shortages unless urgent management of soil fertility deficiencies is implemented, as erosion, overgrazing, nitrogen loss, and deforestation have accelerated soil degradation on the continent.</p>

Public school students in the hinterlands of Maranhão create a bioinsecticide with neem and castor to protect corn crops, transform rural waste into biogas and biofertilizer, and bring sustainable technology to producers at ExpoSertão.

Students from Maranhão present bioinsecticide and biogas at ExpoSertão to support corn crops and rural producers in the hinterland.

MSN

Distinct rhizosphere microbiomes and metabolomes mediate Fusarium crown rot resistance across wheat cultivars - npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Soil-borne Fusarium crown rot (FCR) poses a major challenge to wheat production. Plants can recruit beneficial microbes through a “cry-for-help” strategy in response to pathogen attack, yet how different wheat genotypes modulate this response remains unclear. In FCR-affected wheat fields, we systematically investigated the interactions among wheat, pathogens, rhizosphere microbes, and metabolites using a combination of phenotypic assessment, molecular detection, and microbiome and metabolome profiling. Our results showed that wheat genotype and plant health jointly shaped rhizosphere microbial communities and metabolite profiles. Beneficial Bacillus species were key taxa in healthy rhizosphere communities, whereas the susceptible cultivar additionally relied on Pseudomonas to maintain plant health. In vitro assays and a pot experiment confirmed that these microbes antagonize the pathogen and enhance wheat performance, thereby alleviating FCR. Furthermore, the tolerant cultivar exhibited more complex rhizosphere microbial co-occurrence networks and harbored conserved taxa, such as Devosia. Microbe–metabolite interaction networks revealed strong associations between beneficial rhizosphere microbes (e.g., Bacillus and Pseudomonas) and specific metabolites, such as tritrans-heptacis-undecaprenyl phosphate, PE(14:1(9Z)/20:5(5Z,8Z,11Z,14Z,17Z)), and 1,2-Dioleoyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphate. Collectively, our results provide novel evidence that rhizosphere metabolite-mediated plant–microbe interactions contribute to the suppression of soil-borne diseases.

India eyes biofertilizers as war stokes supply fears

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: ISFAA Dialogues: Importance Of A Farmer Centric Approach To The Distribution of Organic And Biofertiliser in Kenya. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: ISFAA Dialogues: Importance Of A Farmer Centric Approach To The Distribution of Organic And Biofertiliser in Kenya. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.