Source:https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn6350
Over the past decade, research has shown that microorganisms living on and inside eukaryotes—the microbiota—are drivers of host health. For plants, microbiota can greatly expand their genomic capabilities by enhancing immunity, nutrient acquisition, and tolerance to environmental stresses (1). More than ever, plant microbiota are being considered as a lever to increase the sustainability of food production under a changing climate.
Sustainability is not being dependent on chemical fertilizers and yet glyphosate and neem oil are both likely to increase our dependence on chemical fertilizers as they are toxic to the soil food web. It’s likely many other biocides are also toxic to the soil food web and even our beneficial microbes. The increased use of chemical fertilizers may be part of the reasons behind the next quote.
For example, the domestication of legumes, combined with long-term nitrogen fertilization, has been linked to the evolution of less mutualistic rhizobia (nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria that form nodules in the roots of legumes), and legume varieties that are less able to discriminate between rhizobia that provide nitrogen to the plant versus those that do not (4, 8).