Biofertilizers in agriculture: An overview on concepts, strategies and effects on soil microorganisms

Biofertilizer is a substance containing live microorganisms which exhibit beneficial properties toward plant growth and development. Various mechanisms are used by microbial strains in order to enhance nutrient uptake, improve soil fertility and increase crop yields such as nitrogen fixation, potassium and phosphorus solubilization, excretion of phytohormones, production of substances suppressing phytopathogens, guarding plants from abiotic and biotic stresses and detoxification of belowground pollutants. Taking into consideration growing consumption requirements on Earth and hazards arising from the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, biofertilizers are thought to be a promising and non-toxic alternative to synthetic agro-chemicals, including fungal control and minimization of mycotoxins contamination. The implementation of microbial inoculants is considered to overcome the shortcomings associated with chemical-based farming techniques, therefore research into widespread use of biofertilizers is one of the mainstream in scientific work for the development of sustainable agriculture.