Use of Microbes for Improving Soil Fertility
In the previous section, we discussed the use of mycorrhizae to enhance the uptake of nutrients and water for establishment of seedlings on degraded lands. This will, however, not lead to improvement of soil fertility by mycorrhizae as such, although the success of plant growth will eventually lead to reclamation of degraded lands.

However, nitrogen fixing bacteria like Rhizobium or members of actinomycetes genus Frankia can be used to induce nodule formation in a variety of plant species, so that these can be used for improving soil fertility of degraded lands. This nodule formation can be induced, both in leguminous and non-leguminous plant species comprising annuals (cereal and legume crops) and perennials (trees). Efforts are underway to manipulate the genes of both host and rhizobia to obtain maximum efficiency of nodule formation. Strains are also being tailored for unusual soil environments representing degraded lands.