The mycorrhizal hyphosphere: a powerful natural engine for plant phosphate nutrition.

到2050年，世界人口预计将达到90亿，这样的增长将需要将全球粮食产量提高70%以上。当土地被集约用于农业生产时，土壤肥力迅速下降，因为农作物从土壤中提取养分。从历史上看，农用化学品一直被用来减轻这种养分流失，并维持或提高作物的年度产量。然而，农用化学品使用量的增加在造成经济损失的同时，也带来了严重的环境问题。例如，2011年化肥预算占全球市场1600亿美元，加拿大每年约34亿美元，使其成为仅次于饲料的第二大农业运营支出。可利用的磷酸盐(P)资源的迅速枯竭令人担忧，因为按照目前的消耗速度，这些储量将在50-100年内耗尽。在解决这一迫切需求的未来可持续长期方案中，以有益微生物为基础的新型生物肥料的开发至关重要。在农业中管理有益微生物不仅可以保持土壤健康，还可以确保磷等不可再生资源的可持续利用，提高作物质量和产量，并大大降低每公顷成本。这个行业主导的项目旨在创造一种“新的微生物肥料配方”，它结合了两种最重要的植物生长促进微生物(PGPM)的有益效果：丛枝菌根真菌(AMF)及其密切相关的解磷细菌(PSB)，以及来自磷矿(PR)的无机磷来源。这一新产品满足了日益增长的市场需求和减少农用化学品投入的趋势，并采用了替代战略来增加全球粮食产量。

The world population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 and such an increase will require raising globalfood production by more than 70%. When land is used intensively for agricultural production, soil fertilitydeclines rapidly, since nutrients are extracted from the soil by crops. Historically, agro-chemicals have beenused to mitigate this nutrient loss, and to maintain or increase annual crop yields. However, the increased useof agro-chemicals lead to serious environmental problems in addition to the economic losses. For instance,fertilizer budget account for $160 billion in global markets in 2011 and represented ~$3.4 billion annually inCanada, making it the 2nd leading expense of farm operation after feed. The rapid depletion of availablephosphate (P) source is of alarming concern since at the present rate of consumption, these reserves will bedepleted within 50-100 years. Among the future sustainable long-term scenarios to solve this urgent need, thedevelopment of new biofertilizers based on beneficial microorganisms is of paramount importance. Themanagement of beneficial microorganisms in agriculture cannot only preserve soil health but can also ensuressustainable use of non-renewable resources like P, increase crop quality and yield as well as greatly reduce costper hectare. This industry-driven project aims to create a "new microbial based-fertilizer formulation" thatcombines the beneficial effects of two of the most important plant growth promoting microorganisms (PGPM):the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and their intimately associated phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB),along with sources of inorganic P from phosphate rock (PR). This new product meets an increased marketdemand and tendency of reduction of agro-chemical inputs reduction and employment of alternative strategiesfor increasing global food production.