Interactions of cereal varieties with plant-probiotic soil microorganisms.

Research on soil microbial ecology is beginning to elucidate how and how much beneficial soil microorganisms (i.e. plant-probiotics) contribute to plant integrity and plant environmental fitness. The differences so far highlighted among cereal varieties show highly positive interactions with plant-probiotic microflora, and upgrade the role of plant-probiotic soil microorganisms at the level of other essential factors for sustainable plant breeding. Current European research efforts, aimed to rapidly achieve cereal varieties fitting for low-input and organic production systems, finally take into account the capacity of each individual variety to efficiently exploit indigenous probiotic micro-organisms. [invited oral keynote]