Commercial microbial inoculants capitalize on the beneficial relationships between crops and their microbiomes (i.e. the diverse communities of microbes living on and inside plant tissues). While engineering agricultural microbiomes is an emerging and promising strategy for maximizing crop productivity, efficacy data for determining profitability is highly variable or missing. Without relevant, high-quality, and unbiased field efficacy, North Carolina soybean producers face challenging production decisions while navigating the expanding commercial market of microbial inoculants. This project will support the installation of replicated small plot efficacy trials at multiple sites in the Coastal Plains and the Piedmont. We also lack robust data describing the mechanistic activities of how these microbial inoculants drive crop yield metrics in field conditions, or also how these mechanisms may differ across yield environments and cropping varieties. To increase our mechanistic understanding of microbial inoculants, we will also compare soybean microbiomes across inoculant treatments and field sites to quantify the relationships between agricultural microbiome features and yield metrics. This project will extend results to North Carolina soybean producers, Extension Agents, and agricultural industry partners. Together, efficacy and a mechanistic activity data will support North Carolina soybean producers in production decisions to maximize profitability.

1. Evaluate field efficacy and yield response of commercial microbial inoculants on soybean production in North Carolina.
2. Quantify how commercial microbial inoculants alter soybean microbiomes and identify microbial features associated with crop yield metrics.
3. Extend high-quality unbiased efficacy and microbiome data to North Carolina soybean producers, Extension Agents, and agricultural industry partners.

Expected end products may include, but are not limited to:
Field day presentations
Extension seminars and workshops
Industry partner collaborations
Peer-reviewed extension publications
Peer-reviewed scientific journal publications

Biostimulants are a rapidly growing class of inputs in the agriculture industry. Microbial inoculants (i.e. the application of viable microbial organisms as seed, in furrow, or foliar treatments) capitalize on the beneficial relationships between microbes and plants. Harnessing agricultural microbes is a promising approach for maximizing crop productivity, but relevant efficacy data for determining profitability is largely missing. Without high-quality, unbiased data demonstrating local field efficacy, North Carolina soybean producers face challenging production decisions while navigating an expansive commercial market of microbial inoculants. We also lack robust data describing the mechanisms of how microbial inoculants drive crop productivity and how these mechanisms may differ across geographic regions, environmental stressors, and cropping varieties.
This project will launch a multi-year, interdisciplinary effort to evaluate microbial inoculants relevant to North Carolina soybean producers. We also propose integrating microbial community molecular analyses to compare how soybean microbiomes differ across microbial inoculant treatments and across different yield environments. Soybean microbiome data will support a better mechanistic understanding of commercial biostimulants, ultimately establishing relationships between agriculture microbiome features and yield metrics. Together, efficacy and a mechanistic activity data will support North Carolina soybean producers in production decisions to maximize profitability. These data will also extend to agricultural industry partners in an effort to build collaborative partnerships around microbial inoculant product development, design, and evaluation.