Rhizosphere engineering for sustainable crop production: entropy-based insights

Abstract

There is a growing interest in exploring interactions at root-soil interface in natural and agricultural ecosystems, but an entropy-based understanding of these dynamic rhizosphere processes is lacking. We have developed a new conceptual model of rhizosphere regulation by localized nutrient supply using thermodynamic entropy. Increased nutrient-use efficiency is achieved by rhizosphere management based on self-organization and minimized entropy via equilibrium attractors comprising (i) optimized root strategies for nutrient acquisition and (ii) improved information exchange related to root-soil-microbe interactions. The cascading effects through different hierarchical levels amplify the underlying processes in plant-soil system. We propose a strategy for manipulating rhizosphere dynamics and improving nutrient-use efficiency by localized nutrient supply with minimization of entropy to underpin sustainable food/feed/fiber production.

Keywords: entropy minimization; heterogeneous (localized) nutrient supply; rhizosphere engineering; sustainable crop production.