Term
| What are some of the current unsustainable practices in agriculture? |
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Definition
Deforestation
Erosion, soil loss
Overfishing
Climate change
Oil dependency
Ground water depletion
Peak phosphorous
Pests and diseases
Meat demand increase
Biofuels and biomaterials |
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Term
| What are the new microbial approaches to increase crop production? |
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Definition
Plant breeding (microbe-optimised)
Biologicals (microbial biofertilisers and biopesticides)
Microbiome engineering (plant-optimised microbiome) |
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Term
How do microbes assist plants?
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Definition
Enhanced nutrition - symbiotic association with nutrient and water uptake (rhizobia, cyanobacteria, mycorrhizae, lichens)
Protection - induction of defence, competition with pathogens
Abiotic stress tolerance |
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Term
| How can plants fix nitrogen? |
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Definition
| Bacteria converts N2 to NH4+ in rhizobium (legumes) using nitrogenase |
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Term
| How can plants help choose their soil microbobiome? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are pathogen antagonists? |
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Definition
| Organisms in competition with pathogens in the rhizosphere and phyloplane, or organisms that induce plant defence |
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