Advancement in Mycorrhizal Fungi-Based Sustainable Plant Disease Management

Good agricultural soil requires a decent nutrient retention ability which could be largely enhanced by the collective activities of soil microorganisms. However, in practice, agricultural soils are largely exposed to disturbance as a result of tillage activities which break up the soil and make it liable to nutrient leaching in soils with low nutrient retention ability. In the past decades, there has been increased awareness about the inherent potential of microorganisms in sustainable agriculture. This is largely attributed to expanding bodies of research exposing the eco-friendly nature of microorganisms like the mycorrhizal fungi, and the roles they play in soil fertility, crop health improvement and agricultural disease management, which ultimately provide the needed support for crops to achieve optimal productivity. Since the importance of mycorrhizal fungi has become an increasingly popular discussion in sustainable crop production, emphasis should be placed on how to manage our crop production systems in such a way to be able to harness the potential of mycorrhizal fungi while sustaining their continued propagation in order to retain the ecological and production benefits.