The effects of plant breeding on soil microbes

Abstract

Breeding wheat in the twentieth century, for example has been successful on many accounts, resulting in increased yields and grain quality (and contributing to the Green Revolution). One of the consequences of breeding for increased yield and partitioning of biomass into grain (raised harvest index, i.e. the grain-to-straw biomass ratio) has however been a decrease in the root-to-shoot biomass ratio (Rengel 2005). This had significant implications for crop nutrition, since the smaller root system can only support the relatively larger shoots when provided with large quantities of inorganic fertilizers. What remains unclear, and needs to be one of priorities for future research, is whether altered root-to-shoot ratios influence root exudation and therefore the structure of microbial communities in the rhizosphere. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010.