Soil Metagenomics: Prospects and Challenges

The better strategies to examine RNA or DNA from soil allow us to understand the microbial diversity and features in the soil, which are challenging to identify by typical culture techniques. In this direction, the literature on soil metagenomics and its usefulness is ever-increasing and so as its implementation experiences. Omics techniques are going to assist the metagenomics in achieving agricultural sustainability. In doing so, essential understanding on the reference soil would serve to help upcoming soil survey initiatives, lessening bias and raising objectivity. Although the interpretation of limited details has influenced microbial ecologists, the scope of methodological bias remains unfamiliar. A detailed catalog of functional genes and soil microorganisms does not yet exist for any soil. Overall, this chapter provides thoughts related to the soil metagenomics, its importance, and conventional methods of analysis, along with prospects and challenges of soil metagenomics.