Agricultural practices to improve nitrogen use efficiency through the use of arbuscular mycorrhizae: Basic and agronomic aspects

Nitrogen cycling in agroecosystems is heavily dependent upon arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) present in the soil microbiome. These fungi develop obligate symbioses with various host plant species, thus increasing their ability to acquire nutrients. However, AMF are particularly sensitive to physical, chemical and biological disturbances caused by human actions that limit their establishment. For a more sustainable agriculture, it will be necessary to further investigate which agricultural practices could be favorable to maximize the benefits of AMF to improve crop nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), thus reducing nitrogen (N) fertilizer usage. Direct seeding, mulch-based cropping systems prevent soil mycelium disruption and increase AMF propagule abundance. Such cropping systems lead to more efficient root colonization by AMF and thus a better establishment of the plant/fungal symbiosis. In addition, the use of continuous cover cropping systems can also enhance the formation of more efficient interconnected hyphal networks between mycorrhizae colonized plants. Taking into account both fundamental and agronomic aspects of mineral nutrition by plant/AMF symbioses, we have critically described, how improving fungal colonization through the reduction of soil perturbation and maintenance of an ecological balance could be helpful for increasing crop NUE.