Harnessing beneficial soil bacteria to promote sustainable agriculture and food security: a one health perspective

Harnessing beneficial soil bacteria for use in agricultural practices offers an exciting and promising pathway to achieving sustainable farming. Soil microbes, including bacteria and fungi, play a pivotal role in nutrient cycling, enhancing soil structure, and promoting plant growth. Certain plant growth-promoting bacteria, such as Bacillus and Paenibacillus species, are particularly notable for their ability to improve nutrient uptake, suppress pathogens, and enhance plant resilience to environmental stress. By employing these natural bacterial species, farmers can rely less on chemical fertilisers and pesticides, helping the environment and improving soil health. Moreover, soil bacteria may possess potent enzymes systems for breaking down complex carbohydrates, so that the simpler sugars can be used to nourish plants. Genome mining of soil representatives can be used to design novel consortia of soil bacteria (including Paenibacillus odorifer, P. xylanilyticus and Streptococcus cellostaticus) to cover the maximum number of complementary enzyme activities acting on cellulosic and hemi cellulosic materials. Similarly, the combination of these strains and Arthobacter humicola could be of great interest to maximize the metabolisation of lignocellulosic substrates and to reduce and re-valorise food waste from the food production cycle. Soil bacteria play a pivotal role in advancing One Health by mediating interactions across human, animal, and environmental health. Future research and development should focus on optimizing microbial delivery to different soils and also understanding the complex interactions within the soil microbiome to maximize their benefits in diverse farming systems.