Summary:
Food production, including cereal crops such as maize, rice, and wheat, and other products like oilseed, tubers, dairy, meat, fish and sugar, accounts for up to 50 % of global crop output and is projected to rise along with population and income growth. As industrial agriculture heavily relies on mineral fertilizers, for sustaining crop growth, the global fertilizer consumption is also projected to rise in the upcoming years. Nitrogen is the most critical nutrient for crops, so that N-based fertilizers are the most widely used worldwide. However, excessive N fertilization leads to remarkable environmental damage and economic losses annually. Enhancing nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) by aligning nitrogen supply with plant demand is crucial for more sustainable agriculture. Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) presents a promising strategy to reduce synthetic N use. However, integrating BNF into industrial agriculture requires strategies that address both biological and technical challenges. This review discusses the limitations and feasibility of existing strategies to enable BNF in non-leguminous crops. Currently, issues such as consistency and scalability of microbial products, along with regulations, are amongst the main limitations to the adoption of BNF in agriculture. In addition, as the production of bioformulations has not been standardized yet, many products still lack reproducibility, stability and applicability. In this review, relevant factors contributing to the design of effective microbial formulations are discussed, and product design is proposed as alternative valuable strategy which – coupled with appropriate proof of agronomic efficacy – can enable BNF-based solutions as more sustainable fertilization practices. Therefore, the development of effective microbial formulations aiming at reducing N input, losses, and dependence on synthetic fertilizers, is described in the light of both industrial and ecological perspectives. The review remarks the potential of biofertilizers as tools to enable BNF in agriculture and how an eco-design can help developing more effective, stable and hence scalable products. On the other hand, beside the increasing market demand, the regulatory framework is still a major barrier, playing an important role in the identification and formulation of reliable protocols aimed at standardizing the production of microbial products for fertilizing purposes.
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