Exploiting the Native Soil Biodiversity to Promote Crop Productivity and Sustainability Stefano Mocali - Keynote Speaker Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria – Centro di ricerca Agricoltura e Ambiente (CREA-AA), Firenze
Soil biodiversity play a key role in sustainable agriculture. Many ecosystems worldwide face exposure to intensified human use, which has resulted in loss of biodiversity, altered functioning and altered provisioning of ecosystem services. The abandonment of agricultural lands represents one of the most widely used restoration strategies implemented at a global scale, with the potential to promote biodiversity, and associated ecosystem services. However, the restoration of natural ecosystem functioning and soil properties is known to be a long-term process, dependent upon the time it takes to restore connections between different components of the community. Thus, the use of microbial inocula to enhance the native soil biodiversity and functioning represents an intriguing strategy to promote a sustainable agriculture intensification. The project H2020 EXCALIBUR “Exploiting the multifunctional potential of belowground biodiversity in horticultural farming” will be briefly presented. It plans to deepen the knowledge on soil biodiversity dynamics and its synergistic effects with prebiotic and probiotic approaches in horticulture, using a multi-actor approach. To pursue this aim, new multifunctional soil microbial inoculants (bio-inocula) and bio-effectors will be tested on three model crops of economic importance (es. tomato, apple, strawberry) under different experimental and open-field conditions across Europe, and the feed-feedback effect of/on native biodiversity monitored. In order to go beyond the multitude of studies on the links between soil biodiversity and plant health, Excalibur will develop a comprehensive strategy of soil management improving the effectiveness of biocontrol and biofertilization practices in agriculture.
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