Restoration practices in marginal lands for food production are the most important sustainability challenge for humans at the global level. Nature-based solutions (NBS) are among the best interventions to improve soil health, which directly enhances the soil productivity and biodiversity for improved sustainability of ecosystems. Our field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of three inoculants, two of which were bacterial: Azotobacter chroococcum (T1), Acetobacter diazotrophicus (T2), and the third fungal: Aspergillus awamori (T3) on soil properties, plant biomass, enzymatic activities (phosphatase, dehydrogenase activity), and soil carbon stock in marginal lands. The experimental results clearly revealed that the inoculations significantly enhanced plant growth and biomass (p < 0.01). The soil enzyme (dehydrogenase and phosphatase) activities increased under T3 and T2 treatments in response to inoculation. Interestingly, the significant results were observed in T3 and T1 treatment in the 4th year of observation for soil carbon stock (53.06 Mg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ and 51.41 Mg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, respectively). The total soil carbon stock was found to be 38.60 Mg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ in control plots. The inoculation enhanced (p ≤ 0.05) the soil biological properties like microbial biomass carbon as 267.62 ± 18.73 μgg⁻¹ to 894.24 ± 41.65 μg g⁻¹. We conclude that selected inoculations in marginal lands can provide a suitable option for eco-restoration and can sequester more atmospheric CO₂ in to stable carbon pools to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals and food security.

中文翻译：

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微生物接种剂对印度北部边缘土地土壤碳储量、酶活性以及地上和地下生物量的影响

在边缘土地上进行粮食生产的恢复实践是全球范围内人类面临的最重要的可持续性挑战。基于自然的解决方案 (NBS) 是改善土壤健康的最佳干预措施之一，可直接提高土壤生产力和生物多样性，从而改善生态系统的可持续性。我们进行了田间试验以评估三种接种剂的效果，其中两种是细菌：Azotobacter chroococcum ( T1 )、Acetobacter diazotrophicus ( T2 ) ，第三种真菌：Aspergillus awamori ( T3 )) 对边缘土地的土壤特性、植物生物量、酶活性（磷酸酶、脱氢酶活性）和土壤碳储量的影响。实验结果清楚地表明，接种显着提高了植物的生长和生物量（p  < 0.01）。土壤酶（脱氢酶和磷酸酶）活性在 T3 和 T2 处理下响应于接种而增加。有趣的是，在土壤碳储量观察的第 4 年，在 T3 和 T1 处理中观察到显着结果（分别为 53.06 Mg ha ^-1  yr ^-1和 51.41 Mg ha ^-1  yr ^-1）。发现土壤总碳储量为 38.60 Mg ha ^-1  yr ^-1在控制图中。接种增强( p  ≤ 0.05)土壤生物特性如微生物生物量碳为267.62±18.73 μgg ^-1至894.24±41.65 μg g ^-1。我们的结论是，在边缘土地上选择接种可以为生态恢复提供合适的选择，并且可以将更多的大气 CO ₂封存到稳定的碳库中，以实现联合国可持续发展目标和粮食安全。