Microbial inoculants and root microbiome: a path to sustainable agroecosystem management
- 1Laboratório de Biologia Celular e Tecidual (LBCT), Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF), Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2Núcleo de Desenvolvimento de Insumos Biológicos para a Agricultura (NUDIBA), Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF), Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Abstract
Microbial inoculants are increasingly promoted as sustainable alternatives or complements to conventional agricultural inputs, yet their field performance remains highly variable. This review examines how ecological processes governing root microbiome assembly constrain inoculant establishment, persistence, and function across agricultural systems. We synthesize current evidence on the roles of environmental filtering, host-mediated selection, microbial interactions, and context dependency in shaping inoculant outcomes. We further evaluate the promise and limitations of core-microbiome concepts and synthetic communities as emerging strategies for microbiome-informed inoculant design, emphasizing that their practical translation remains challenged by methodological variability, ecological complexity, formulation constraints, and regulatory barriers. By integrating ecological theory with applied microbiology, this review highlights why many inoculants fail to deliver consistent agronomic benefits and outlines a more potential framework for developing context-aware, field-relevant microbiome-based solutions for sustainable agroecosystem management.
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BibTeX
@article{ribeiro2026microbial,
title = {{Microbial inoculants and root microbiome: a path to sustainable agroecosystem management}},
author = {Rafael Chaves Ribeiro and João Pedro Campos Matos and Diego Vinicius de Sena Martins and Luciano Pasqualoto Canellas and Fábio Lopes Olivares},
journal = {npj Sustainable Agriculture},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1038/s44264-026-00164-7},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s44264-026-00164-7},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Microbial inoculants and root microbiome: a path to sustainable agroecosystem management
AU - Rafael Chaves Ribeiro
AU - João Pedro Campos Matos
AU - Diego Vinicius de Sena Martins
AU - Luciano Pasqualoto Canellas
AU - Fábio Lopes Olivares
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/22
JO - npj Sustainable Agriculture
DO - 10.1038/s44264-026-00164-7
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s44264-026-00164-7
AB - Microbial inoculants are increasingly promoted as sustainable alternatives or complements to conventional agricultural inputs, yet their field performance remains highly variable. This review examines how ecological processes governing root microbiome assembly constrain inoculant establishment, persistence, and function across agricultural systems. We synthesize current evidence on the roles of environmental filtering, host-mediated selection, microbial interactions, and context dependency in shaping inoculant outcomes. We further evaluate the promise and limitations of core-microbiome concepts and synthetic communities as emerging strategies for microbiome-informed inoculant design, emphasizing that their practical translation remains challenged by methodological variability, ecological complexity, formulation constraints, and regulatory barriers. By integrating ecological theory with applied microbiology, this review highlights why many inoculants fail to deliver consistent agronomic benefits and outlines a more potential framework for developing context-aware, field-relevant microbiome-based solutions for sustainable agroecosystem management.
SN - 2731-9202
ER -