Sustainability and Microbial Components of Growing Media: A Review

Abstract

Growing media is mandatory for the future sustainability of agriculture, especially horticulture. The use of microbial elements in growing medium to enhance plant development and growth, particularly productivity, has received more attention nowadays. Efforts are made to add beneficial microbes to the growth medium as inoculation agents or soil amendments. However, using microbial components in growth media has many obstacles, such as the necessity of moisture control and the risk of infection. Overall, the incorporation of microbes in fruit production growth medium showed encouraging results for increasing plant performance as well as sustainability. Deep insights are required to recognise the benefits and drawbacks of this strategy. Moreover, growers are seeking advanced future technology that would provide them with a healthy plant with a well-developed root system that may retain fertiliser and require fewer crop inputs. Furthermore, various non-renewable resources can have significant environmental consequences; the sustainability of growth, medium generation, and disposal remains an essential topic.