Biochar and microbes for sustainable soil quality management

Sustainable soil and crop management are prerequisite to soil quality and food security. Intensive agricultural practices have led to greater soil degradation which have deleterious effects on soil microorganisms and their functions. Biochar is a stable organic amendment rich in C and benefits soils by improving their physical, chemical, and biological properties such as pH, electric conductivity, ion exchange capacity, water-holding capacity, and aggregate structural stability, and these changes in soil properties drive microbial and enzymatic activities and nutrient cycling. Biochar improves soil microbial activities by providing labile C, mineral nutrients, and habitat as microbes readily colonizes biochar surface. Biochar alters soil biological functions by inducing shift in microbial community structure and composition. Biochar also protects soil microbes from deleterious effects of various organic and inorganic pollutants. As the results of beneficial biochar–microbe interactions, biochar enhances the efficiency of various microorganisms such as plant growth–promoting rhizobacteria and phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria which improves crop productivity through multifarious traits. Therefore biochar–microbe interactions can be utilized to improve plant productivity and soil quality through a wide variety of mechanisms.