Soil Fungi in Sustainable Agriculture, 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is the continuation of our previous special issue "Soil Fungi in Sustainable Agriculture".

Soil is the most complex living system containing different organisms involved in specific ecosystem services. Soil provides a natural habitat to organisms such as bacteria, archaea, fungi, protozoans, and nematodes, but bacteria and fungi in particular are by far most numerous and involved in organic matter decomposition, biogeochemical cycling processes, soil formation and structure, and plant growth and health. It has been estimated that one gram of soil contains as many as 10¹⁰–10¹¹ bacteria and up to 200 m fungal hyphae, but the number of bacteria in the mycosphere is higher than in bulk soil, indicating the effect of fungi within complex interactions with bacteria. Different free-living and symbiotic fungi play an important role in growth and health of plants and improving their stress tolerance. In addition, fungi take part in soil bioremediation, water absorption, nutrient mobilization and uptake, soil formation and aggregation, and control of plant pathogens. However, fungi are relatively understudied, and we know very little not only regarding specific fungal interactions with other soil organisms but also which are the factors that determine the fungal role in plant microbiota structure, dynamics, and functions. Another multidisciplinary task is learning how to explore fungi more effectively in the frame of sustainable agriculture following the 3-P strategy (prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics).

This Special Issue will collect studies on a wide range of soil/plant beneficial and pathogenic fungi, their interactions with below- and above-ground organisms, and their role in nutrient mobilization, plant nutrient acquisition, bioremediation, and biocontrol potential. Special attention will be paid to works on methods of selection/isolation of fungi, their characteristics, production and formulation as biofertilizers, biocontrol, and bioremediation agents. Another group of contributions is related to determination of the soil fungal diversity.

Prof. Dr. Nikolay Vassilev
Guest Editor

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