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Effects of Irrigation with Municipal Wastewater on the Microbiome of the Rhizosphere of Agricultural Lands

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Re-visiting the Rhizosphere Eco-system for Agricultural Sustainability

Part of the book series: Rhizosphere Biology ((RHBIO))

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Abstract

Irrigation using municipal wastewater has been in limited use, especially when potable water sources have already been taxed to their limits. However, as populations increase and food security become more of an issue, reclaimed wastewater could play a significant role in enhancing productivity of certain food crops. Municipal wastewater is rich in many plant nutrients but also in heavy metals, a myriad of biologically recalcitrant organics, as well as numerous viral and microbial pathogens and helminths. If irrigation using municipal wastewater is chosen as a supplement or especially a primary method of providing moisture to consumable crops, then it is important not only to deal with the related public health issues, but also to understand how the components contained in the water affect the microbiome of the rhizosphere. This discussion centers on evaluating how using such wastewater and its contents affects perhaps the most important microbial populations in the rhizosphere, the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Associated with about 80% of all agriculturally important plants, these fungi form symbiotic unions with the roots, providing an increase in the plant’s ability to acquire water, an array of soluble nutrients, and specially phosphate from the soil. Methods for identifying AM fungi have evolved from classical microscopy and analysis of the fungal protein glomalin, to molecular methods based on species-specific/unique sequences of DNA found in the fungal genomes. Notably, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the preferred way of identifying AM fungi to the species level, and all materials and equipment needed to use this method are now available commercially. Longitudinal studies dealing with how AM fungi respond to the presence of wastewater irrigation have been limited, but those that have investigated the issue have found some minor changes in species associated with certain plant roots, but the changes seem to have little consequence on the productivity of the crop under study. Increased use in the future of municipal wastewater for irrigation of consumable crops should drive the need for additional studies on how AM fungi respond to this new resource.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA

    Theodore C. Crusberg

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  1. Theodore C. Crusberg
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Correspondence to Theodore C. Crusberg .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Plant-Microbe Interaction & Rhizosphere Biology Lab, ICAR-National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms, Kushmaur, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Udai B. Singh

  2. Department of Mycology and Plant Pathology (BHU-KVK), Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, RG South Campus, Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Jai P. Rai

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India

    Anil K. Sharma

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Crusberg, T.C. (2022). Effects of Irrigation with Municipal Wastewater on the Microbiome of the Rhizosphere of Agricultural Lands. In: Singh, U.B., Rai, J.P., Sharma, A.K. (eds) Re-visiting the Rhizosphere Eco-system for Agricultural Sustainability. Rhizosphere Biology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4101-6_21

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