Manipulation of the rhizosphere microbial community through application of a new bioorganic fertilizer improves watermelon quality and health

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Abstract

Bio-organic fertilizers (BOFs) combine functional microbes with a suitable substrate and have been shown to effectively suppress soil-borne diseases and promote plant growth. Here, we developed a novel bio-organic fertilizer (BOF) by fermentation of a cow plus chicken manure (M) compost using Fen-liquor Daqu (FLD) as a fermentation starter and compared the compositions of bacterial and fungal communities in the rhizosphere soil of watermelon plants after treatment with different fertilizers. Further, we aimed to explore the mechanisms underlying plant-promoting and disease (Fusarium wilt)-suppressing activities of each rhizosphere microbial community. The microbial communities of soil amended with cow plus chicken manure compost (S+M), soil amended with the BOF (S+BOF), and untreated control soil (S) without plants were analyzed through sequence analysis using the Illumina MiSeq platform. The results showed that a new microbial community was formed in the manure compost after fermentation by the Daqu. Application of the BOF to the soil induced remarkable changes in the rhizosphere microbial communities, with increased bacterial diversity and decreased fungal diversity. Most importantly, S+BOF showed the lowest abundance of Fusarium. Moreover, watermelon quality was higher (P < 0.05) in the S+BOF than in the S+M treatment. Thus, application of the BOF favorably altered the composition of the rhizosphere microbial community, suppressing Fusarium wilt disease and promoting plant quality.

Figures

  • Table 1. Richness (Chao1) and Shannon diversity indexes for the different treatments. Indexes were calculated based on the OTUs assigned to 16S rRNA and ITS sequences (97% similarity).
  • Fig 1. Relative abundances of bacterial (a) and fungal (b) phyla under each treatment.
  • Fig 2. Relative abundances of the 15 most dominant bacterial (a, b) and fungal (c, d) genera.
  • Fig 3. PLSDA of the bacterial (a, b) and fungal (c, d) communities under the different treatments.
  • Fig 4. RDA of bacterial (a) and fungal (b) phyla for individual samples of soils treated with the newly developed BOF (S+BOF; blue) and cow plus chicken manure compost (S+M; red).
  • Table 2. Analysis of disease incidence, disease index, average fruit weight, and soluble solids. Pot soils were treated with BOF (S+BOF) or manure compost (S+M).

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APA

Zhao, J., Liu, J., Liang, H., Huang, J., Chen, Z., Nie, Y., … Wang, Y. (2018). Manipulation of the rhizosphere microbial community through application of a new bioorganic fertilizer improves watermelon quality and health. PLoS ONE, 13(2). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192967

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