Dataset Information

Soil microbiome indicators can predict crop growth response to large-scale inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

ABSTRACT: Alternative solutions to mineral fertilizers and pesticides that reduce the environmental impact of agriculture are urgently needed. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can enhance plant nutrient uptake and reduce plant stress; yet, large-scale field inoculation trials with AMF are missing, and so far, results remain unpredictable. We conducted on-farm experiments in 54 fields in Switzerland and quantified the effects on maize growth. Growth response to AMF inoculation was highly variable, ranging from -12% to +40%. With few soil parameters and mainly soil microbiome indicators, we could successfully predict 86% of the variation in plant growth response to inoculation. The abundance of pathogenic fungi, rather than nutrient availability, best predicted (33%) AMF inoculation success. Our results indicate that soil microbiome indicators offer a sustainable biotechnological perspective to predict inoculation success at the beginning of the growing season. This predictability increases the profitability of microbiome engineering as a tool for sustainable agricultural management.

SUBMITTER: Lutz S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10730404 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Soil microbiome indicators can predict crop growth response to large-scale inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Lutz Stefanie S Bodenhausen Natacha N Hess Julia J Valzano-Held Alain A Waelchli Jan J Deslandes-Hérold Gabriel G Schlaeppi Klaus K van der Heijden Marcel G A MGA

Nature microbiology 20231129 12

Alternative solutions to mineral fertilizers and pesticides that reduce the environmental impact of agriculture are urgently needed. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can enhance plant nutrient uptake and reduce plant stress; yet, large-scale field inoculation trials with AMF are missing, and so far, results remain unpredictable. We conducted on-farm experiments in 54 fields in Switzerland and quantified the effects on maize growth. Growth response to AMF inoculation was highly variable, rangin ...[more]

PMID: 38030903

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Project description:Silviculture has great importance worldwide, and the use of Eucalyptus species, which account for 75% of the local planted forest in Brazil, is one of the factors that contributes to the success of this activity in the country. Despite its adaptability, the yield of Eucalyptus is often affected by climate change, particularly water deficiency. Plants have developed strategies to mitigate water stress, for example, through their association with mycorrhizal fungi. The genus Eucalyptus, particularly in the plant domain, establishes symbioses with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECMF). The influence of Eucalyptus species on AMF and soil quality indicators is not well understood. Our aim was to conduct a preliminary evaluation of the various responses of soil AMF communities and soil nutrient dynamics in the presence of Eucalyptus species with different degrees of drought tolerance. A field experiment was established containing six Eucalyptus species, E. brassiana, E. camaldulensis, E. citriodora, E. cloeziana, E. grandis, and E. urophylla, all of which were planted in large plots. Soil and root samples were taken when the plants were 1.7 and 2.2 years old. We found that Eucalyptus species with low (E. grandis and E. urophylla) and intermediate drought tolerance (E. citriodora and E. cloeziana) showed stronger correlations with the AMF community than Eucalyptus species with high drought tolerance (E. brassiana and E. camaldulensis). Differences were also found between Eucalyptus species for AMF spore numbers and root colonization percentages, which was most evident for E. urophylla. The microbiological attributes found to be most responsive to Eucalyptus species were soil enzyme activities, AMF spore numbers, root colonization percentages, and fungal abundance. Soil organic carbon, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, and iron were the main chemical drivers related to the soil AMF community structure in the presence of E. brassiana.

Project description:In the Mediterranean, long-term impact of typical land uses on soil fertility have not been quantified yet on replicated mixed crop-livestock farms and considering the variability of soil texture. Here, we report the effects, after 15 years of practice, of two legume-winter cereal rotations, olive orchards and vineyards on microbiological and chemical indicators of soil fertility and the communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). We compare the changes among these four agricultural land-use types to woodland reference sites. Root colonization by AMF of English ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), a grass that occurred under all land use types, was only half as heavy in biannual berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.)-winter cereal rotations than in 4-year alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)-winter cereal rotations. In olive (Olea europaea L.) orchards and vineyards (Vitis vinifera L.), where weeds are controlled by frequent surface tillage, the AMF root colonization of ryegrass was again much lower than in the legume-cereal rotations and at the woodland reference sites. All the microbial parameters and soil organic carbon correlated most strongly with differences in occurrence and relative abundance (β-diversity) of AMF genera in soil. The soil pH and mineral nutrients in soil strongly correlated with differences in AMF root colonization and AMF genus richness (α-diversity) in soil. Diversity of AMF was much less affected by soil texture than land use, while the opposite was true for microbial and chemical soil fertility indicators. Land uses that guaranteed a continuous ground cover of herbaceous plants and that involved only infrequent tillage, such as multiyear alfalfa-winter cereal rotation, allowed members of the AMF genus Scutellospora to persist and remain abundant. On the contrary, under land uses accompanied by frequent tillage and hence discontinuous presence of herbaceous plants, such as tilled olive orchard and vineyard, members of the genus Funneliformis dominated. These results suggest that multiyear alfalfa-winter cereal rotation with active plant growth throughout the year is the least detrimental agricultural land use in soil carbon and AMF abundance and diversity, relative to the woodland reference.

Dataset Information

Soil microbiome indicators can predict crop growth response to large-scale inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Publications

Soil microbiome indicators can predict crop growth response to large-scale inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

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