Soil Microbiome Management

Manage the Soil Microbiome better

- and you will grow plants better

The hidden and microscopic life that inhabits soil can impact plant growth in so many positive ways.

If knowledge and understanding of the soil microbiome is factored into anything you do to soils; the outcomes for growing crops, pastures, trees or any other plants can be vastly improved.

Lesson Structure

There are 9 lessons in this course:

1. Scope and Nature of the Soil Microbiome
   • Nature of soil
   • Soil Structure & Texture
   • Soil Structure and Porosity
   • Soil Structure Research
   • Topsoil Thickness
   • Nutrient Components
   • Carbon and Nutrient Content
   • Carbon Retention
   • Nitrogen
   • Phosphorus
   • Sulphur
   • Other Important Indicators of Soil Health
   • Acidity (pH)
   • Salinity
   • Environmental Factors Affecting Soil Health
   • Drought
   • Frost
   • Erosion
   • Water Retention
   • Nature of soil Microbes
   • Bacteria
   • Archaea
   • Viruses
   • Fungi
   • Protozoa
   • Scope of the Soil Microbiome
   • Plant-Microbe Relationships
   • Microbe Interrelationships
   • Changes to the Soil Microbiome
   • Key Definitions and Concepts for Understanding Soil
2. Evaluating the Soil Microbiome Status
   • Measurement vs. Monitoring in Soil Biology
   • Things the Soil Microbiome can Help Measure or Monitor
   • Types of Soil Biological Testing and Analysis
   • Deciding on the Right Type of Test
   • Overview of Different Testing Types
   • Cotton Strip Assay
   • Microbial Activity Using Basal Carbon Dioxide Respiration
   • Microbial Biomass
   • Identification Through Culturing
   • Potentially Mineralisable Nitrogen
   • Biolog Plates
   • Microarrays
   • Community Profiling
   • More Advanced Approaches to the Microbiome: Omics
   • Transcriptomics
   • 16S rRNA
   • PCR
   • PCR-ELISA
   • Bioinformatics
3. Man’s impact on Microbiome
   • Human Impact on Microbiomes
   • Land Development and Urbanisation
   • Changes in Land Use and Microbial Communities
   • Problems with land development on soils
   • Climate Change
   • Pollution
   • Air Pollution
   • Deposition
   • Precipitation
   • Erosion
   • Microplastics
   • Anti-microbials
   • Antibiotic Resistance
   • Monocultures
4. Soil Substrates and Additives
   • Soil Substrates
   • Inorganic Substrate Materials
   • Perlite
   • Vermiculite
   • Sand
   • Rockwool
   • Organic Substrate Materials
   • Peat
   • Coir
   • Bark
   • Soilless Substrates and Microbes
   • Substrate Technology
   • Substrate Engineering
   • Substrate Evaluation
   • Novel Technologies used in Substrate Management
   • Tomography
   • Rhizometrics
   • Mini-Horhizotron
   • Rhizometer
   • INORGANIC ADDITIVES
   • Organic Additives
   • Manures
   • Compost
   • Fungal Additives
5. Conventional vs Organic soil management
   • Conventional vs Organic Soil Management practices
   • Conventional Practices
   • Soil Carbon Modelling
   • Organic Practices
   • Composting
   • Crop Rotations
   • Cover Crops
   • No Tillage Farming
   • Organic Pest & Disease Control
   • Weed Control
   • Rotational Grazing
   • Livestock Management
   • Biodynamics
   • Biodynamic preparations/sprays
6. Soil Fertility Management
   • Soil Management Strategies
   • Soil Organic Matter
   • Cover Crops
   • Cocktail Cover Crop
   • Legume Crops
   • Longer Crop Rotations
   • Reduced Tillage
   • Planting Trees
   • ORGANIC Additives
   • Soil Humus
   • Building Soil Humus
   • Humates
   • Composting
   • Animal Manures
   • Microbial Inoculants & MICROORGANISMS
   • Use of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) Inoculants
   • Specific Inoculums
   • Protozoa Tea
   • Earthworms
   • INORGANIC ADDITIVES
   • Gypsum
   • Lime
7. Plant Interactions with the Soil Microbiome
   • Soil Organisms
   • Function of Plant Microbiome
   • Effect of Non-native Species
   • Soil Microbiome and Plants
   • Plant-Soil Feedback
   • Plant-Microbe Associations
   • Examples of Plant-Microbe Associations with Plant Families & Species
   • Effects of Different Microbes
   • OTHER ASSOCIaTIONS
   • Cover Crops & Grapevines
   • Crop Rotations & Microbiomes
   • Types of Cover Crops & Microbiomes
8. Pest & Disease Interaction with Soil Microbiome
   • Biopesticides
   • Advantages of Biopesticides
   • Biological Control Agents
   • Microbial Pesticides
   • Advantages of Microbial Insecticides
   • Entomopathogenic Fungi
   • Protozoa
   • Bacteria
   • Engineering Microbial Inoculants to Suppress Disease
9. Soil Regeneration Practices
   • Restoring the Soil Microbiome
   • Practical Methods Which Benefit the Soil Microbiome
   • Reducing soil disturbance
   • No tillage (Zero Tillage)
   • Advantages of no till farming
   • Controlled Traffic Farming
   • Advantages of Controlled Traffic Farming
   • Increasing crop diversity & ORGANIC matter
   • Alley Farming
   • Cover Crops
   • Mulching & Composting
   • Biochar
   • Increasing soil microbes
   • Microbial Inoculation
   • Plant Breeding and Microbiome Engineering