Rhizosphere engineering for sustainable crop production: entropy-based insights

There is a growing interest in exploring interactions at root–soil interface in natural and agricultural ecosystems, but an entropy-based understanding of these dynamic rhizosphere processes is lacking. We have developed a new conceptual model of rhizosphere regulation by localized nutrient supply using thermodynamic entropy. Increased nutrient-use efficiency is achieved by rhizosphere management based on self-organization and minimized entropy via equilibrium attractors comprising (i) optimized root strategies for nutrient acquisition and (ii) improved information exchange related to root–soil–microbe interactions. The cascading effects through different hierarchical levels amplify the underlying processes in plant–soil system. We propose a strategy for manipulating rhizosphere dynamics and improving nutrient-use efficiency by localized nutrient supply with minimization of entropy to underpin sustainable food/feed/fiber production.