Soil health multifunctionality of biological products in agriculture: overview and research perspectives

Summary Globally, the use of biological products, including biological control agents, biofertilizers, and bioinoculants, has increased significantly as a strategy to reduce dependence on synthetic inputs and promote sustainable agriculture. However, its effects on soil health are still poorly explored. Therefore, this study aimed to analyse the multifunctionality of biological products in agriculture, focusing on soil health, using a systematic review and bibliometric analysis approach. This analysis involves summarizing their mechanisms of action, categories, and impacts. Parameters such as the number of publications per year, the most cited articles, the frequency of keywords and international scientific collaboration networks between countries were analysed. The results showed an expansion in the number of publications on biological products and biological products over the years, with a significant growth in recent years, with emphasis on Brazil and Russia. The most frequent keywords include ‘biological products’, ‘biological product’, ‘soil’, ‘fungi’, ‘bacteria’, and ‘biological control’, and the most cited articles address topics such as the use of Azospirillum sp . in agriculture, the combined application of biological products to control soil diseases, and the inoculation of seeds with Bacillus subtilis . Although few studies have directly evaluated soil health, the results indicate that biological products are related to improvements in soil health, which stimulate the microbiota and promote greater productivity, thereby positively impacting the physical and chemical properties, highlighting the importance of an integrated approach for soil health.