Microbial biofertilizer interventions in augmenting agroforestry

Abstract

Owing to limited land resources, agroforestry in the present scenario is the proper utilization of available land resources in the development of the agriculture and forestry sector together with the protection of the environment. It is estimated that the population of India will increase to about 1.44 billion by 2030, necessitating commensurate increase in the production of food grains. Due to rise in living populations, the demand of food, fodder, and fuel wood has been increased. Agroforestry is the combinations of food crop and tree crop to make more dynamic, multipurpose, and sustainable utilization of land resources aimed to fulfill the requirement of increased living populations. For enhancing production, a wide use of chemical fertilizers is making our land resources nutrient deficient and has detrimental impacts on soil, water, environment, and crop quality and productivity. Therefore, there is an urgent need to shift from inorganic agricultural practices to organic practices, and interventions of microbial biofertilizers are required to ensure sustained crop productivity and environmental protection. These microbial biofertilizers can benefit the plant health by influencing the essential nutrient availability, releasing plant growth regulators, and providing resistance against pathogens, thereby enhancing the crop productivity. Agroforestry systems are also reported to enhance plant-beneficial bacteria. The present review emphasizes on the proper land utilization in the form of agroforestry with microbial biofertilizer interventions for sustainably coping up with the 3F (food, fodder, and fuel) production targets and problems related to environment and health hazards.