Conditioned soils reveal plant-selected microbial communities that impact plant drought response

Daniel K Manter,Jorge M Vivanco,Samantha J Monohon

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-00593-z

Daniel K Manter, Jorge M Vivanco + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00593-z

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Abstract

Rhizobacterial communities can contribute to plant trait expression and performance, including plant tolerance against abiotic stresses such as drought. The conditioning of microbial communities related to disease resistance over generations has been shown to develop suppressive soils which aid in plant defense responses. Here, we applied this concept for the development of drought resistant soils. We hypothesized that soils conditioned under severe drought stress and tomato cultivation over two generations, will allow for plant selection of rhizobacterial communities that provide plants with improved drought resistant traits. Surprisingly, the plants treated with a drought-conditioned microbial inoculant showed significantly decreased plant biomass in two generations of growth. Microbial community composition was significantly different between the inoculated and control soils within each generation (i.e., microbial history effect) and for the inoculated soils between generations (i.e., conditioning effect). These findings indicate a substantial effect of conditioning soils on the abiotic stress response and microbial recruitment of tomato plants undergoing drought stress.

Highlights

Rhizobacterial communities can contribute to plant trait expression and performance, including plant tolerance against abiotic stresses such as drought
The results showed no significant difference in dry weight measurements (DW) biomass as a result of conditioning effects (p > 0.05)
We found that tomato plants given microbial inoculants conditioned for monocultured tomato plants under severe drought stress, showed significantly decreased plant DW biomass as an effect of microbial history (Fig. 1)

Summary

Introduction

Rhizobacterial communities can contribute to plant trait expression and performance, including plant tolerance against abiotic stresses such as drought. A study examining the rhizobacterial communities of date palms grown in heterogeneous sites across the Sahara Desert found similar trends in microbial community composition across sites, despite differences in native soil o rigins[8] These findings indicated unusually high plant influence on rhizobacterial selection, due to the decreased microbial complexity of the desert s oils[8]. Tritici have shown a consistent trend of plant infection for several years followed by sudden plant resistance after continued monocropping of wheat and b arley[14,15,16] These findings show plants’ abilities to select for beneficial microbial communities as a successful stress defense strategy

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