My granddad, Luirang Humao once told me about yimru (local dialect), it means very fertile soil which infers good crops and good harvests, narrates Yangmiso Humao, a Kachai champra (Citrus Jambhiri Lush.) farmer. It relates to his rediscovering the traditional knowledge for citrus farming. So, what is the trait that makes the soil very fertile? In common term, it is the white thread like fungal hypha which is found abundantly in our forest floor. Scientifically, a hypha is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. It is a part of the fungal vegetative growth and collectively called a mycelium. It decomposes dead or decaying materials and helps in exchanging nutrients to plants and environment. However, all species are not useful, while some important species are often seen glowing during rainy season in damp places. If we think about our land historically they were once covered in thick forest teeming with living and non-living beings. Our forest and grassland ecosystem are dynamic, functioning, and so much diversity. Out of many known and unknown relationships or partnerships, the plant-fungal mutualistic relationships have existed in large evolutionary time scales, perhaps a million of years. Can we integrate this mutualistic relationship of plant and fungal into our agricultural or food production system?
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These fungal structures create extensive network above and below ground and also connect directly into the roots of plants. They help in exchange of nutrients (carbon, zinc, ammonium and phosphorus) and water uptake for the plants. They enhanced soil structure by entangling soil particles, smaller pieces, or crumbs of soils into aggregates and established the soil stability. They prevent soil erosion, increase aeration, and improve water infiltration in soil. It can be scale-up and replace the chemical fertilizers and improve th
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