Role of novel microorganisms for maintaining soil carbon pool and plant health

Microorganisms in soils are ubiquitous, yet it is considered that the majority of soil microbes are awaiting discovery. This chapter provides a synthesis of the methods of detecting new soil microbes, their role in the carbon cycle, mainly as they contribute to total SOC stores, and their influence on the health of plants. Most recently, the detection and isolation of novel microbes have become the domain of metagenomic methods, while in vitro growth of these microbes depends on new ways of culturing based on phylogenic ties that indicate physical, chemical, and metabolic requirements for the specificity of culturing medium. Further, novel microbes can be grouped in commensal or symbiotic guilds to formulate inocula to amend soils to produce physicochemical responses in plants for biocontrol, such as bio-fertilizers and bioremediation. Transitory survival, functional redundancy, and competitiveness of microbial inoculum on the indigenous plant holobiont, which determines the rate and quantity of microbial necromass, can affect stable carbon stores in soil. This chapter describes the formation of stable organic matter through microbial reproduction and decline, introduces the effect of novel microbes in indigenous soil, strategies to augment microbiota in soil, and details developments in the detection of soil microorganisms. These aims will emphasize the diverse functions of microorganisms within the below-ground ecology of land systems and the significance of the role of novel microorganisms in maintaining soil carbon pools and plant health.