Did you know that more than 80% of plants depend on an invisible partnership with soil fungi to grow healthy? 🤝🍄 These are mycorrhizae — associations that boost nutrient uptake and help protect plants.

Many growers worry that using cover crops that are “unfriendly” to these fungi (such as forage radish) could harm soil life. But a long-term study published in RBCS brought excellent news for sustainable agriculture! 🚜✨

What did the study find?

· Diversity preserved: Even with the use of forage radish (a non-mycorrhizal species), fungal richness in the soil did not decrease.

· The secret is the system: No-till farming, combined with crop rotation and without soil disturbance, keeps the microbial community active and diverse.

· Cutting-edge technology: Researchers used everything from visual spore examination to DNA sequencing to confirm the presence of 75 different types of these fungi!

Why does this matter? The results show that the No-Tillage Vegetable Production System (SPDH) is a powerful strategy for producing food sustainably while protecting the invisible biodiversity that keeps soils productive in the long term.

👇 Had you heard about the role of mycorrhizae in vegetable production? Tell us in the comments!

Authors: Bárbara Santos Ventura, Leonardo Khaoê Giovanetti, Edenilson Meyer, Anna Flávia Neri de Almeida, Claudinei Kurtz, Jucinei José Comin, Sidney Luiz Stürmer, and Paulo Emílio Lovato.

Link: https://doi.org/10.36783/18069657rbcs20250039