Coffee is an important, high-value crop because its roasted beans are used to produce popular beverages that are consumed worldwide. Coffee plantations exist in over 70 countries and constitute the main economic activity of approximately 125 million people. Currently, there is global concern regarding the excessive use of agrochemicals and pesticides in agriculture, including coffee crops. This situation has motivated researchers, administrators, and farmers to seek ecologically friendly alternatives to decrease the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. In the last decades, multiple studies of the rhizosphere, at the chemical, physical and biological levels, have improved our understanding of the importance of beneficial microorganisms to plant health and growth. This review aims to summarize the state of the use of plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPM) in coffee production, where the most extensively studied microorganisms are beneficial plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). This review also contains information on PGPM, in regard to plantations at different latitudes, isolation techniques, mass multiplication, formulation methods, and the application of PGPM in nurseries, monoculture, and coffee agroforestry systems. Finally, this review focuses on relevant research performed during the last decade that can help us improve sustainable coffee production.

One of the biological indicators most used to determine the health of a fluvial ecosystem are the benthic macroinvertebrates. The presence of recurrent species in a wide gradient of latitudes, dominates the biogeographic pattern of the benthic macroinvertebrates in Chilean fresh waters, nevertheless the knowledge on the communitarian ecology of these in the Chilean rivers continues to be scarce. Null models became a powerful statistical tool for describing the ecological mechanisms that drive the structure of an ecological community and the underlying patterns of diversity. The objective of this study was to determine the community structure of benthic invertebrates in the Allipén River by describing their composition, richness and abundance of species through richness models and null models based on presence/absence. The results reveal a high family richness and low diversity, three phyla, five classes, 11 orders and 28 families were identified in the study area during the four seasons of the year. The Arthropoda phylum was the most representative in abundance and richness. Regarding to richness, Trichoptera (7 families) and Diptera (6 families) followed by Ephemeroptera (3 families) were the orders that showed the greatest diversity of families, however, a low diversity with a H’≤ 1.5 nit was registered in the study area. We demonstrated through the null models, the randomization in the species associations corresponding to the three analyzed sites. The information provided here contributes to the understanding of the ecological patterns of the invertebrate communities in the Allipén River, establishing the basis for more complex ecological studies.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) play a vital role in the restoration of tropical forests by enhancing soil fertility, facilitating plant establishment, and improving ecosystem resilience. This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of global scientific output on AMF in the context of ecological restoration, based on 3835 publications indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus databases from 2001 to 2024. An average annual growth rate of approximately 9.45% was observed, with contributions from 10,868 authors across 880 journals. The most prominent journals included Mycorrhiza (3.34%), New Phytologist (3.00%), and Applied Soil Ecology (2.79%). Thematically, dominant research areas encompassed soil–plant interactions, phytoremediation, biodiversity, and microbial ecology. Keyword co-occurrence analysis identified “arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi,” “diversity,” “soil,” and “plant growth” as core topics, while emerging topics such as rhizosphere interactions and responses to abiotic stress showed increasing prominence. Despite the expanding body of literature, key knowledge gaps remain, particularly concerning AMF–plant specificity, long-term restoration outcomes, and integration of microbial community dynamics. These findings offer critical insights into the development of AMF research and underscore its strategic importance in tropical forest restoration, providing a foundation for future studies and informing ecosystem management policies.

La caficultura es una actividad importante en Ecuador ya que se practica en todas las regiones del país, bajo diferentes pisos altitudinales, tanto en monocultivos como en sistemas agroforestales. La principal característica del café ecuatoriano es sus exquisitos aroma y sabor, reconocidos a nivel internacional. Al ser una bebida de alto consumo, su comercialización constituye una fuente de ingresos importante para todos los actores que intervienen en los diferentes eslabones de su cadena de producción. El objetivo de la presente revisión bibliográfica fue la recopilación de diferentes experiencias alrededor del mundo relacionadas con la aplicación de microorganismos benéficos en el cultivo del cafeto. Entre los microorganismos promotores del crecimiento vegetal (MPCV) podemos mencionar a los hongos micorrízicos arbusculares, el género Trichoderma spp. y rizobacterias promotoras del crecimiento vegetal. La literatura recopilada ha sido obtenida en el marco de un diseño experimental y análisis estadísticos rigurosos que validaron su publicación en artículos científicos o trabajos de tesis. Se analizó la información relevante publicada entre los años 2011 al 2022. Los resultados de las diferentes investigaciones sugieren un efecto positivo importante de la adición de MCPV en el desarrollo de las plantas a nivel de vivero y en cafetales asociados a sistemas agrícolas, agroecológicos y agroforestales. Se puede concluir que el uso de microorganismos en la caficultura constituye una alternativa sustentable para disminuir el uso de fertilizantes convencionales y pesticidas, conservando la fertilidad físico-química y promoviendo la diversidad microbiana del suelo.

Solidago canadensis L. cv. Tara and Delphinium elatum, the hybrid White River are summer flowers with great agronomic potential. The goal of this study was to establish the phenology of these species grown under greenhouse conditions, as well as to determine the correlation between climatic elements (relative humidity - RH, growing degree-days for development - GDD and soil moisture - SM) with growth variables (stem length and diameter, fresh weight FW - and dry weight - DW) in S. canadensis and D. elatum. The life cycle for S. canadensis and D. elatum ended when reaching 30% of the flower opening, the stem length reached 118.05 and 123.74 cm, at 94 and 77 days, respectively. The growth of both species showed a logistic curve pattern throughout the crop cycle; S. canadensis showed maximum values for absolute growth rate (AGR) and relative growth rate (RGR) at 77 and 42 days after transplanting (DAT), respectively; in contrast to D. elatum which occurred at 77 and 28 DAT. On the other hand, for the correlation between climatic elements and growth variables in S. canadensis, the GDD and RH were directly correlated with both FW and DW, stem diameter and length, while an inverse correlation occurred for SM. D. elatum showed a direct correlation between climatic conditions and growth variables.

Soil biological properties are sensitive indicators of soil quality changes due to perturbations occurred under agricultural management. The effects of contrasting tillage, increasing nitrogen fertilization doses, and crop rotations [e.g., bean, maize, bean (BMB) and bean, amaranth, bean (BAB)] on soil physicochemical and biological properties in an Andean soil from Ecuadorian highlands were evaluated in this study. Acid phosphatase, β-Glucosidase, fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis, microbial biomass carbon (Cmic), soil basal respiration (BR), arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) spore density, total glomalin content (TGRSP), and soil physicochemical properties were analyzed. Conventional tillage (CT) and crop rotation showed significant effects on soil physicochemical and biological properties. Towards the final crop rotations, no-tillage (NT) promoted BR, TGRSP, and higher AMF spore density in both crop rotations; the Cmic kept stable along time in BMB and BAB, while BR doubled its value when compared to CT. Results indicated that the AMF spore density increased by 308% at the end of the BMB, and 461% at the end of the BAB, while TGRSP increased by 18% and 32% at the end of BMB and BAB, respectively. Biological traits demonstrated to be strongly associated to the organic matter accumulation originated from crop residues under the NT post-harvest which improved soil moisture, biological activity, and AMF interaction. The conservative soil management system has definitively improved general soil properties when compared to soil conditions under the intensive soil management system in this research.