Dr Nicola Holden, from Applied Microbiology International’s Food Security Scientific Advisory Group, reports back on the AMI conference ’The Power of Microbes in Sustainable Crop Production’, recently held at the John Innes Centre in the UK.
For those of us immersed in microbiology, it is obvious that microbes hold many of the solutions to, and indeed still cause many problems of, our global challenges.
However, it is much less obvious to others, and this can lead to serious knowledge or evidence gaps.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals act as a focal point for global grand challenges. Our group on Food Security centres on UN SDG 2, towards Zero Hunger. To provide a secure supply of food implies that there is sufficient safe and nutritious food that is available to all. Our group wanted to spark the conversation about how applied microbiology could help address issues sustainable crop production.
Crop production has high relevance nationally in the UK, and internationally because of the global nature of food chains, and the global impact from food production practices. It includes aspects of soil functions as well as crop productivity and disease. The challenge of climatic change pervades every aspect of production and is itself a major driver for change.
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The workshop was an excellent forum to bring all of these aspects together to understand how to apply microbiology could contribute.
To set the scene, Yvonne Pinto from Eagle Genomics talked about the promise and some of the hype around the soil microbiota. Key points were around seeding the plant microbiota from the soil, and the potential of enhancing plant-microbe interactions. The need for more general knowledge in this area was highlighted as a limitation.
Thomas Bell from Imperial College focused on two examples of perturbations to the microbiota and their impact. These gave insights into the unpredictable consequences that can arise, and presented ‘tipping’ points that affect community composition response.
Fiona Brennan from Teagasc told us about the changing face of agricultural systems. She raised the major factors around heterogeneity in the soil microbiota and food webs, with the fundamental requirement to consider ecological interactions. She also warned against over-promising to the end-user groups.
Leo van Overbeek from Wageningen examined risks from the unintended consequences of circular agricultural practices that can introduce human pathogens or antibiotic resistance into crop production. His presentation picked up the common themes of cross-stress protection, and ecological interactions, with the need for knowledge of the indigenous communities.
With this fresh in mind, we moved to the discussion session. Our two chairs, Christon Watson (SRUC) and Ashish Malik (Aberdeen) set the scene for the two areas of focus: Soil Health, and Resilience to the effect of Climate Change, respectively.
Christine showcased the need for long-term experimental cropping platforms, while Ashish raised the need for an integrated ecological approach. Both sets of discussions focused on environmental conditions, with lots of reference to the recent flooding events in the UK (Storm Babet) and the impacts on primary production systems.
In summary there was a good deal of enthusiasm to fuel the discussions. It is clearly a big topic that needs to hear from a range of voices.
As it stands, we have a lot of unknowns in how to effectively apply microbes or even understand the impact of crop production systems on the microbes. Nonetheless, there are some actions that need to be taken now.
An important first step is ensuring that microbes and microbiology are fully considered in crop production systems, especially in light of the direct impacts of climatic change, or in changes to farming practices to mitigate it. That requires increasing the awareness of the application of microbiology and microbiological knowledge beyond the scientists, out to the practitioners and end-users.
It needs an honest and ongoing dialogue so that expectations are realistic, and that new findings have the space to be aired. It’s a two-way conversation, so also helps to refine the direction of where the scientific effort needs to be to address the questions. That takes the time for engagement and collaboration, but organisations like AMI are there to bring all interested parties together.
To find out more about Applied Microbiology International’s forthcoming events programme, click HERE.
- Applied Microbiology International
- Ashish Malik
- Christon Watson
- Eagle Genomics
- Fiona Brennan
- Food Security
- Food Security Scientific Advisory Group
- Healthy Land
- Imperial College
- Leo van Overbeek
- New nitrogen-fixing bacteria for sustainable agriculture
- People News
- Soil & Plant Science
- Thomas Bell
- UK & Rest of Europe
- World Soil Day
- Yvonne Pinto
"Nikola Holden, kutoka Applied Microbiology International's Food Security Scientific Advisory Group, alitoa taarifa juu ya mkutano wa AMI ""The Power of Microbes in Sustainable Crop Production"" uliofanyika hivi karibuni katika Kituo cha John Innes nchini Uingereza." Kwa wale wetu walioingia katika microbiology, ni dhahiri kwamba vimelea vina suluhisho nyingi, na kwa kweli bado husababisha matatizo mengi, changamoto zetu za kimataifa. Hata hivyo, ni wazi sana kwa wengine, na hii inaweza kusababisha maarifa makubwa au mapungufu ya ushahidi. Malengo ya Maendeleo ya Kudumu ya Umoja wa Mataifa (SDGs) ni hatua muhimu katika kukabiliana na changamoto za kimataifa. Mkataba wa Umoja wa Mataifa kuhusu Usalama wa Chakula (UNSDG 2) una lengo la kutokomeza njaa. Ili kuhakikisha usambazaji wa chakula ni muhimu kuwa na chakula cha kutosha na salama kwa kila mtu. """Tunataka kuanzisha mazungumzo juu ya jinsi microbiology ya kutumika inaweza kusaidia kushughulikia masuala ya uzalishaji wa mazao endelevu." Uzalishaji wa mazao una umuhimu mkubwa kitaifa nchini Uingereza, na kimataifa kwa sababu ya asili ya kimataifa ya minyororo ya chakula, na athari ya kimataifa kutoka kwa mazoea ya uzalishaji wa chakula. Inatia ndani mambo ya utendaji wa udongo na vilevile uzalishaji wa mazao na magonjwa. Changamoto ya mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa inatawala kila kipengele cha uzalishaji na yenyewe ni kichocheo kikuu cha mabadiliko. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""Ami imeshirikiana na Qiagen kukusaidia kupata mavuno ya juu kutoka kwa uchimbaji wako wa DNA.""" Pata mwongozo wako wa bure hapa. Mkutano huu ulikuwa ni fursa nzuri ya kuunganisha mambo yote ya msingi ya microbiology. Yvonne Pinto, Mkurugenzi wa Eagle Genomics, alisema: Sehemu muhimu zilikuwa karibu na kupanda microbiota ya mmea kutoka udongo, na uwezekano wa kuongeza mwingiliano wa mmea na vimelea. Uhitaji wa maarifa zaidi ya jumla katika eneo hili ulionyeshwa kama kikomo. Thomas Bell kutoka Chuo cha Imperial alizingatia mifano miwili ya usumbufu kwa microbiota na athari zao. Hizi alitoa ufahamu katika matokeo unpredictable ambayo inaweza kutokea, na iliyotolewa "tipping" pointi kwamba kuathiri majibu ya utungaji wa jamii. Fiona Brennan kutoka Teagasc alituambia juu ya uso unaobadilika wa mifumo ya kilimo. Alizungumzia mambo makuu kuhusu heterogeneity katika microbiota ya udongo na mitandao ya chakula, na mahitaji ya msingi ya kuzingatia mwingiliano wa ikolojia. Pia alionya dhidi ya kuahidi kupita kiasi kwa makundi ya watumiaji wa mwisho. Leo van Overbeek kutoka Wageningen alichunguza hatari kutoka kwa matokeo yasiyotarajiwa ya mazoea ya kilimo cha mviringo ambayo yanaweza kuingiza vimelea vya binadamu au upinzani wa viuavijasumu katika uzalishaji wa mazao. Uwasilishaji wake ulichukua mandhari ya kawaida ya ulinzi wa msalaba wa mkazo, na mwingiliano wa ikolojia, na hitaji la maarifa ya jamii za wenyeji. Tukiwa na jambo hilo akilini, tuliendelea na mazungumzo. Mwenyekiti wa mkutano huo, Christon Watson (SRUC) na Ashish Malik (Aberdeen) waliweka mandhari kwa maeneo mawili ya kuzingatia: Afya ya Udongo na Uvumilivu kwa athari za Mabadiliko ya Hali ya Hewa. Christine alionyesha haja ya majukwaa ya mazao ya majaribio ya muda mrefu, wakati Ashish aliinua haja ya mbinu ya mazingira iliyounganishwa. Mkutano huo ulizungumzia hali ya mazingira na pia mafuriko ya hivi karibuni nchini Uingereza na athari zake kwa mifumo ya uzalishaji wa msingi. Kwa muhtasari kulikuwa na shauku kubwa ya kuchochea majadiliano. Ni wazi ni mada kubwa ambayo inahitaji kusikilizwa kutoka kwa sauti mbalimbali. Kwa sasa, tuna mambo mengi yasiyojulikana kuhusu jinsi ya kutumia vimelea kwa ufanisi au hata kuelewa athari za mifumo ya uzalishaji wa mazao kwenye vimelea. Hata hivyo, kuna hatua fulani zinazopaswa kuchukuliwa sasa. Hatua muhimu ya kwanza ni kuhakikisha kwamba vimelea na microbiology ni kikamilifu kuchukuliwa katika mifumo ya uzalishaji wa mazao, hasa katika mwanga wa athari za moja kwa moja ya mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa, au katika mabadiliko ya mazoea ya kilimo ili kupunguza. Hii inahitaji kuongeza ufahamu wa matumizi ya microbiology na maarifa ya microbiological zaidi ya wanasayansi, nje ya watendaji na watumiaji wa mwisho. Inahitaji mazungumzo ya uaminifu na ya kuendelea ili matarajio yawe ya kweli, na kwamba matokeo mapya yana nafasi ya kutangazwa. Ni mazungumzo ya pande mbili, hivyo pia husaidia kusafisha mwelekeo wa ambapo juhudi za kisayansi zinahitaji kuwa ili kushughulikia maswali. Hii inahitaji muda wa ushiriki na ushirikiano, lakini mashirika kama AMI yanapatikana ili kuleta pande zote zinazohusika pamoja. Ili kupata zaidi kuhusu Applied Microbiology International's upcoming events program, bonyeza hapa. "Kama ilivyoelezwa na ""Food Security Scientific Advisory Group"" (FSG) na ""Healthy Land"" na ""Imperial College"" na ""Leo van Overbeek"" na ""Soil & Plant Science"" na ""Soil Science"" na ""Soil Science"" na ""Soil Science"" na ""Soil Science"" na ""Soil Science"" na ""Soil Science"" na ""Soil Science"" na ""Soil Science"" na ""Soil Science"" na ""Soil Science"" na ""Soil Science"" na ""Soil Science"" na ""Soil Science"" na ""Soil Science."