The Sociomicrobiology Group published in the journal "Environmental Microbiome" a paper entitled "Herbicide-treated soil as a reservoir of beneficial bacteria: microbiome analysis and PGP bioinoculants in maize".

Herbicides are widely used in agriculture to manage weeds but can harm soil health and microbial communities. A recent study explored how herbicides impact soil bacteria and found that agricultural practices, like crop rotation, had a bigger effect on bacterial diversity than the herbicide itself. The study also identified herbicide-tolerant bacteria with plant-growth-promoting abilities that could help mitigate these negative effects. Researchers isolated 120 bacterial strains with the potential to boost plant growth and improve soil quality. When tested on maize, some of these bacteria increased seed germination and plant biomass by up to 47%. The findings suggest that integrating these beneficial bacteria into farming practices could support sustainable agriculture by enhancing soil health and plant productivity, even in herbicide-treated environments.

This research is part of the dissertation of Ivana Galić, who is doing her PhD in IMGGE under the mentorship of Dr. Nada Stanković. The study was carried out in collaboration with the  Bacteriology Group of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Trieste, Italy.