Prospects of biological inputs as a measure for reducing crop losses caused by climate change effects
Oswalt R. Jiménez, Amalia C. Bornemann, Yelzen E. Medina, Kendipher Romero, Juan Ramón Bravo
Abstract
Today, agriculture faces many challenges related to the effects of climate change such as heat stress, drought, excess humidity, and their contribution to the attack of new variants of pests and pathogens. All these factors have been reducing the capacity of food systems in the world, mainly in less developed countries. The exploitation of the native microbiota, which is very rich in diversity in most agroecosystems, is proposed as a viable alternative to confer resilience on crops. Here, we briefly review the projections of climatic scenarios that most affect crop production and, in turn, discuss based on references on how beneficial microorganisms in symbiosis with crop plants could contribute to overcoming those stresses. We also present three successful examples of how these beneficial microorganisms can be transformed into practical biological inputs that are easily adopted and used by the farmers, representing a viable alternative from an economic and technical point of view. Finally, we outline some important aspects that must be reinforced so that this type of venture scales enough to have a significant impact on food production. It is evident, at the light of these discussions, that the exploitation of the microbiota is very promising to be taken into account in regional and global strategies that aimed to strengthen food systems.