Wheat production: using fungi to reduce reliance on fertilizers

Farms that produce wheat rely heavily on chemical fertilizers. Unfortunately, chemical-dependent farming depletes the soil of nutrients and forces growers to use increasing amounts of fertilizer each year. Here’s what wheat producers should know.

Fertilizers are problematic
Fertilizer use releases high amounts of nitrogen into the environment. This causes the soil to emit carbon dioxide, thereby contributing to the greenhouse gas effect. Furthermore, the excess nitrogen ultimately seeps into the water system and leads to the flourishing of algae blooms. This depletes affected waterways of nutrients and results in “dead zones” or areas where marine life can’t thrive.

In addition, fertilizer production is responsible for a considerable amount of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to the agriculture industry.

Fungal partnerships might help
In nature, plant-fungi partnerships are common. The plant gives a portion of the carbon it draws from the air to the fungi, which then provides the plant with important nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus.

In a recent study, researchers allowed fungi to colonize the roots of common wheat varieties and then observed how much phosphorus the plants got from the fungi. All varieties were able to get a significant proportion of their required phosphorus intake from the fungi.

Although more research is required, this suggests that developing varieties of wheat that thrive on fungal partnerships could play a role in reducing farmers’ reliance on fertilizers. This would be a big step toward food security and a sustainable future.