Microbial Inoculation can Enhance SRI Performance and Reduce Biotic and Abiotic Stresses in Rice

Microbes play crucial roles in plant survival and fitness by mobilizing soil nutrients, enhancing plant performance by producing phytohormones, and protecting plant from biotic and abiotic stresses. SRI crop management system, extrapolatable to improve production of other crops beyond rice, aims to create the best growing environment above and below ground and to mobilize various services from microbes to increase factor productivity. Inoculating crop plants with effective microbial agents, either in consortia or separately, enhances rice crop performance in various ways. This paper presents results from field experiments and offers some explanation of mechanisms accounting for the higher productivity and performance of SRI rice plants with augmentation of microbial agents in soil.