A technology to condition plants with adapted Rhizospheric soil/substrate bacterial species to improve vegetation resilience and growth on rehabilitated land
Review and proposed method for using soil microbial communities to establish lasting vegetation on coal waste substrates where topsoil is scarce. For rehabilitation and closure practitioners.
Coaltech Research Project E2019-2
by Wayne F. Truter and Claudia Schimmer | October 2024
Conventional rehabilitation relies on lime, fertiliser and compost to build fertility and select adaptive species, which produces short term cover but rarely a self sustaining ecosystem. The work argues for treating soil microbes as part of the system, since bacteria drive nutrient cycling, organic matter breakdown and soil aggregation, and proposes conditioning plants with adapted rhizosphere bacteria on coal waste substrates.
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