Reframing anaerobic soil disinfestation through ecosystem services in agroecosystems

Anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) is a pre-plant biological soil management practice in which organic amendments are incorporated, soils are irrigated to saturation, and the soil surface is sealed with plastic mulch to induce a transient anaerobic phase and in situ organic fermentation. Across horticultural and other high-value cropping systems, ASD suppresses a wide range of soilborne pathogens, plant-parasitic nematodes, and weeds through interacting physicochemical and biological mechanisms, including oxygen depletion, altered redox conditions, and the accumulation of inhibitory metabolites (e.g., volatile fatty acids and sulfur-containing compounds), together with the enrichment of antagonistic and functionally important microbial taxa. Despite extensive evaluation of ASD as an alternative to chemical fumigation, its outcomes are less frequently assessed in the context of multiple ecosystem services. Here, we synthesize the ASD literature using the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) framework and conceptualize ASD as a multifunctional soil health management strategy that contributes primarily to supporting services (nutrient cycling and soil microbial functioning), regulating services (suppression of soilborne pests and pathogens, soil carbon stabilization, and context-dependent greenhouse gas dynamics), and provisioning services (crop yield and, in some systems, crop quality). We further highlight how organic amendment characteristics (e.g., degradability and C:N ratio), soil properties (texture, moisture, pH, and baseline nutrient status), and management decisions (mulch permeability, sealing duration, and timing of tarp perforation) direct trade-offs among nitrogen retention, pathogen suppression, and episodic nitrogen losses and greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, we identify research priorities to strengthen mechanistic linkages between ASD process metrics (e.g., redox trajectories, oxygen depletion kinetics, and amendment-specific metabolite profiles) and ecosystem service outcomes, and we emphasize the need for harmonized, multi-site, multi-year field studies that integrate agronomic performance, soil biological and biogeochemical indicators, environmental trade-offs, and economic feasibility to support broader adoption.