Abstract
This chapter describes a realistic and innovative approach for promoting a sustainable increase of overall soil fertility of marginal lands in representative semiarid environments in East and Southern Africa (South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe). This realistic and innovative approach was based on the application of indigenous selected strains of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria and releasing organic compounds such as exopolysaccharides (EPS) to improve soil fertility and structural stability. To achieve these goals, 17 cyanobacteria strains (over 200 identified in soils of the African countries), able to fix atmospheric nitrogen and to release EPS in considerable amounts, were isolated, purified and grown. Using adequate techniques and procedures, large amounts of cyanobacterial biomasses were produced to be applied to poor soils to ameliorate their quality and to improve their productivity. Laboratory and greenhouse experiments showed that the application of these biomasses significantly improved overall soil fertility and crop yield. In spite of the need to confirm the relevance and persistence of the beneficial effects by further medium and long-term field experiments, the application of selected cyanobacteria strains to marginal lands appeared to be a very promising tool for a sustainable improvement of fertility and productivity of degraded soils in semiarid tropics.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barclay WR, Lewin RA (1985) Microalgal polysaccharide production for the conditioning of agricultural soils. Plant Soil 88:159–169
Belnap J, Lange OL (2001) Biological soil crusts: structure, function, and management. Springer, Berlin
Castenholz RW (2001) General characteristics of cyanobacteria. In: Garrity GM (ed) Bergey’s manual of systematic bacteriology, 2nd edn. Springer, New York
Cogle AL, Redy MVR, Rao KPC, Smith GD, McGarry D, Yule DF (1995) The role of biological practices and the soil biota in management of sealing, crusting and hardsetting soils. In: So HB, Smith GD, Raine SR, Schafer BM, Loch RJ (eds) Sealing, crusting and hardsetting soils: productivity and conservation. Australian Society Soil Science, Inc: Queesland Branch, Brisbane
D’Acqui LP, Maliondo SM, Malam Issa O, Le Bissonnais Y, Ristori GG (2004) Influence of indigenous strains of cyanobacteria on physical and biochemical properties of tropical soils. The 4th International Symposium of the Working group MO – ISMOM 2004. Whuan, Cina, Abstracts p 110
D’Acqui LP et al (2006) Use of indigenous N2-fixing cyanobacteria for sustainable improvement of soil biogeochemical performance and physical fertility in semiarid tropics. Final report. EU, Brussels, EU – ICA4-CT-2001-10058, p 300
Falchini L, Sparvoli E, Tomaselli L (1996) Effect of Nostoc (cyanobacteria) inoculation on the structure and stability of clay soils. Biol Fertil Soils 23:246–252
Garcia-Pichel F, Belnap J, Neuer S, Schanz F (2003) Estimates of global cyanobacterial biomass and its distribution. Algol Stud 109:213–227
Ghosh TK, Saha KC (1997) Effects of inoculation of cyanobacteria on nitrogen status and nutrition of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in an Entisol amended with chemical and organic sources of nitrogen. Biol Fertil Soils 24:123–128
Hu C, Gao K, Whitton BA (2012) Semiarid regions and deserts. In: Whitton A (ed) Ecology of cyanobacteria II: their diversity in space and time. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/New York/London
IUSS Working Group WRB (2014) World reference base for soil resources 2014. International soil classification system for naming soils and creating legends for soil maps, World soil resources reports N. 106. FAO, Rome
Juo ASR, Ayanlaja SA, Ogunwale JA (1976) An evaluation of cation exchange capacity measurements for soils in the tropics. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 7:751–761
Malam IO, Défarge C, Le Bissonais Y, Marin B, Duval O, Bruand A, D’Acqui LP, Nordenberg S, Annerman M (2007) Effects of the inoculation of cyanobacteria on the microstructure and the structural stability of a tropical soil. Plant Soil 290:209–219
Maqubela MP, Mnkeni PNS, Malam Issa O, Pardo MT, D’Acqui LP (2009) Nostoc cyanobacterial inoculation in South African agricultural soils enhances soil structure, fertility, and maize growth. Plant Soil 315:79–92
Maqubela MP, Mnkeni PNS, Muchaonyerwa P, D’Acqui LP, Pardo MT (2010) Effects of cyanobacteria strains selected for their bioconditioning and biofertilization potential on maize dry matter and soil nitrogen status in a South African soil. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 56:552–559
Maqubela MP, Muchaonyerwa P, Mnkeni PNS (2012) Inoculation effects of two South African cyanobacteria strains on aggregate stability of a silt loam soil. Afr J Biotechnol 11:10726–10735
Martens DA, Frankenberger WT Jr (1992) Decomposition of bacterial polymers in soil and their influence on soil structure. Biol Fertil Soils 13:65–73
McGrady MH (1915) The numerical interpretation of fermentation-tube results. J Infect Dis 17:183–212
Pardo MT, Almendros G, Kileo E, Maliondo S, Msanya B (2007) Cultivation‐induced effects on the soil organomineral matrix and their bearing on crust development on two soil formations from Tanzania. Commun Soil Sci Plan 39:65–81
Pardo MT, Almendros G, Zancada MC, López-Fando C (2010) Biofertilization of degraded Southern African soils with cyanobacteria affects organic matter content and quality. Arid L Res Manag 24:328–343
Rao DLN, Burns RG (1990) The effect of surface growth of blue-green algae and bryophytes on some microbiological, biochemical and physical soil properties. Biol Fertil Soils 9:239–244
Rippka R, Deruelles J, Waterbury JB, Herdman M, Stanier RJ (1979) Generic assignments, strain histories and properties of pure cultures of cyanobacteria. J Gen Microbiol 111:1–61
Rogers SL, Burns RG (1994) Changes in aggregate stability nutrient status, indigenous microbial populations, and seedling emergence following inoculation with Nostoc muscorum. Biol Fertil Soils 18:219–215
Rogers SL, Cook KA, Burns RG (1991) Microalgal and cyanobacterial soil inoculants and their effect on soil aggregate stability. In: Wilson WS (ed) Advances in soil organic matter research: the impact of agriculture and the environment. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge
SISS (1985) SISS (Società Italiana della Scienza del Suolo, Italian Society for Soil Science), Metodi normalizzati di analisi del suolo. Edagricole, Bologna
Venkataraman GS (1979) Algal inoculation of rice fields. In: Nitrogen and Rice. IRRI, Los Banos, The Philippines, pp 311–321
Zimmerman WJ (1993) Microalgal biotechnology and applications in agriculture. In: Metting B (ed) Soil microbial ecology. M Dekker, Inc., New York, pp 457–479
Acknowledgements
This work is based on results from CYANOSOILS project funded by European Union, contract no. ICA4-CT-2001-10058. The author gratefully acknowledges Dr L. Tomaselli for optical microscopy observations, Prof. L. Calamai and Dr B. Pushparaj for the revision of the manuscript and all Partners who took part in the CYANOSOILS project.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer India
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
D’Acqui, L.P. (2016). Use of Indigenous Cyanobacteria for Sustainable Improvement of Biogeochemical and Physical Fertility of Marginal Soils in Semiarid Tropics. In: Arora, N., Mehnaz, S., Balestrini, R. (eds) Bioformulations: for Sustainable Agriculture. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2779-3_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2779-3_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New Delhi
Print ISBN: 978-81-322-2777-9
Online ISBN: 978-81-322-2779-3
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)