Interaction of Growth-Promoting Microorganisms with Pulses: Nutrition, Tolerance to Abiotic Stresses and Increase in Grain Production

Dear Colleagues,

Pulses are legume plants from the Fabaceae family that are characterized as a high-quality food resource for human nutrition and food security. Their dry seeds have a low fat and high protein and fiber content, making them an alternative to meat consumption. Aiming at the expansion of pulse production, the United Nations launched a global event in 2016, called “World Pulses Day” which takes place yearly on February 10th. From that year onwards, an average increase of 18.5% has been observed compared to the previous six years. Pulses benefit from the interaction with atmospheric nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which increase productivity, reduces nitrogen fertilizer demand, and mitigates the environmental impacts caused by either soluble fertilizer leaching into groundwater or greenhouse gas emissions. The main microsymbiont for the most common pulses are Rhizobium leguminosarum symbiovar viciae for peas, lentils, and broad beans; Rhizobium spp. and Mesorhizobium spp. for common beans and chickpeas, respectively; and Bradyrhizobium spp. for cowpeas, mung beans, and pigeon peas. In addition to rhizobia, more than 80 taxa of plant-growth-promoting microorganisms have been reported to be associated with pulses capable of promoting the stimulation of nutritional traits and tolerance to abiotic stresses; the former may be triggered by the action of several microbial taxa, while the latter is preferentially associated with bacteria from the Bacillota phylum.

This Special Issue welcomes the submission of studies that explore the association of pulses with growth-promoting microorganisms capable of improving the nutritional aspects of crops related to nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and others, or tolerance to abiotic impacts due to temperature, humidity, salinity, among others, aiming to increase productivity and reduce production costs, thus increasing the grain supply of pulses.

Dr. Norma Gouvêa Rumjanek
Guest Editor

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