Collection: Beneficial Microorganisms and Nematodes

Beneficial microorganisms and insects contribute to organic agriculture horticulture and food preservation.

A microorganism, or microbe is a microscopic organism which may exist in single celled form or as a colony of cells, comprising Gram positive or negative and aerobic or anaerobic bacteria, fungi, archaea, protist, protozoa and yeast. Nematodes or roundworms are free living or parasitic. Beneficial microbes provide favourable effects to organisms and their environment. Beneficial microorganisms act as natural enemies of crop pests and biological control of invasive plants.

Different free living or applied microorganism species naturally work to sustain ecosystems:

• Human and animal digestion and immunity.
  1. Beneficial bacteria in the intestines provide digestive support by helping break down complex foods and fibres, increasing nutrient absorption and energy levels.
  2. Live existing or ingested beneficial bacteria, archaea and yeasts, known as probiotics, improve gut health, aid in digestion, boost the immune system and produce a multitude of vitamins via intricate, multi step biosynthetic metabolic pathways. The particular vitamins synthesized are dependent on specific species and strains.
  3. Some beneficial microbes can inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria and pathogens, creating a healthy microbial balance and contributing to disease prevention.
  
  
• Nutrient re cycling in the environment.
  1.  Microorganisms act as decomposers, they break down dead organic matter to return vital nutrients back into the soil, playing an essential role in carbon and nitrogen cycles in nature.
  2. Certain beneficial microbes can be used to clean up polluted environments or break up chemicals and compounds for waste treatment prior to their release by degrading various pollutants including pesticides, hydrocarbons and industrial dyes to aid bioremediation.
  
  
• Biofertilizers and biopesticides in agriculture.
  1. Microbes form symbiotic relationships with plant roots in the rhizosphere microbiome, improving nutrient availability and uptake, stimulating root development, and increasing plant resistance to environmental and biotic stress.
  2. Different types of soil dwelling bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi enhance soil fertility and plant growth by fixing atmospheric nitrogen, solubilizing phosphorus and producing growth hormones, thereby promoting overall plant growth.
  3. Beneficial bacteria and fungi can naturally control and infect and colonize harmful insects, pests and parasites, providing an eco friendly pathogen control method for cultivated agricultural crops and horticultural plants.
  4. Greenhouse growers use different species of entomopathogenic nematodes as beneficial agents to control pest populations.
  5. Beneficial protists are inoculated into agricultural soil for plant farming and in aquaculture for enhanced nutrient cycling, oxygen production, microbe and pathogen biocontrol, improved plant microbe interactions and hormone and plant growth stimulation; protists being major consumers of bacteria and fungi in the soil release excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus trapped in microbial biomass when they graze on microbes, making the released nutrients become available for plants to use, protists can alter the soil microbial community through selective feeding, promoting the survival and function of beneficial plant growth promoting microbes, for example when some protists transport and redistribute beneficial nitrogen fixing Azospirillum bacteria to root tips where they are most effective, certain protists can directly consume soil borne pathogens or stimulate bacteria and fungi to produce antimicrobial compounds to suppress plant diseases, other protists can stimulate bacteria in the soil to produce plant hormones that promote root growth and improve plant architecture.
  
  
• Food and pharmaceuticals production and preservation.
  1. Particular microbial communities exhibiting a complex microbiota characterized by a sequence of different microorganisms from milk coagulation and throughout maturation, from starter cultures crucial for rapid milk acidification that ferment lactose in milk into lactic acid, a key process for coagulating milk into curds and preserving cheese, to secondary microbiota that play an important role during cheese ripening, are used to make dairy products like cheese, curd, yogurt, kefir, sour cream, crème fraîche and cultured buttermilk, thus increasing the shelf life of raw milk while varying flavour and enhancing digestibility.
  2. Different types and styles of cheese rely on specific lactic acid bacterial cultures, molds and other microbes to influence texture, aroma and flavour, develop characteristic colours, create holes by releasing carbon dioxide and produce antimicrobial substances which inhibit the growth of many food poisoning bacterium, yeast and mold varieties for longer conservation.
  3. Yeasts sold for commercial and home baking are all strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae packaged and sold in different forms, with differing potency and use method.
  4. Many different species of wild and cultivated yeasts, molds and bacteria are employed in the fermentation industry. Fermentation is one of the oldest methods of food preservation, also used to create unique flavours and textures, employed in making soy sauce, miso, sourdough starter, kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles, cured olives, kombucha, vinegar, fermented meats and fish, coffee and chocolate cocoa beans processing.
  5. Bacteria and fungi are used to make antibiotics and medicine.
  

A good general rule is to apply agricultural beneficial microorganisms when the pathogens, pests, insects or parasites just appear to significantly reduce their numbers. Take care of identifying the nuisance correctly to apply the proper control. Many beneficial effects are specific to certain microorganism species or combinations with other microbes. While many microorganisms are harmless, others are pathogens. Careful selection and testing are necessary to avoid introducing harmful organisms. Use caution, educate yourself about endemic insects and microorganisms that play their part in taking care of the local natural environment before applying any kind of foreign microorganism and insect in an effort to preserve the indigenous flora and fauna.