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Abstract
Garlic substrate could influence plant growth through affecting soil microbiome structure. The relationship mechanism between changes in soil microbial communities, disease suppression and plant development, however, remains unclear, particularly in the degraded soil micro-ecological environment. In this study, garlic substrates as a soil amendment were incorporated with different ratios (1:100, 3:100 and 5:100 g/100 g of soil) in a replanted disturbed soil of long-term cucumber monoculture (annual double cropping system in a greenhouse). The results indicated that higher amount of C-amended garlic substrate significantly induced soil suppressiveness (35.9% greater than control (CK) against the foliar disease incidence rate. This inhibitory effect consequently improved the cucumber growth performance and fruit yield to 20% higher than the non-amended soil. Short-term garlic substrate addition modified the soil quality through an increase in soil organic matter (SOM), nutrient availability and enzymatic activities. Illumina MiSeq sequencing analysis revealed that soil bacterial and fungal communities in the garlic amendment were significantly different from the control. Species richness and diversity indices significantly increased under treated soil. The correlation-based heat map analysis suggested that soil OM, nutrient contents and biological activators were the primary drivers reshaping the microbial community structure. Furthermore, garlic substrate inhibited soil-borne pathogen taxa (Fusarium and Nematoda), and their reduced abundances, significantly affecting the crop yield. In addition, the host plant recruited certain plant-beneficial microbes due to substrate addition that could directly contribute to plant–pathogen inhibition and crop biomass production. For example, abundant Acidobacteria, Ascomycota and Glomeromycota taxa were significantly associated with cucumber yield promotion. Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Basidiomycota and Glomeromycota were the associated microbial taxa that possibly performed as antagonists of Fusarium wilt, with plant pathogen suppression potential in monocropped cucumber-planted soil.
Highlights
The demands for food and vegetables are increasing globally with the rapid growth of the human population
The results show a significant increase in the plant height and leaf area of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) with increasing garlic substrate concentrations (Table 1)
The highest decrease in disease incidence % was observed at a higher dose of garlic substrate addition (5:100) and the inhibitory effect was 35.9% greater than in the control
Summary
The demands for food and vegetables are increasing globally with the rapid growth of the human population. The PGVC area has reached 3.5 million hectares globally [2] and such a type of protected cultivation offers greater economic benefits than those associated with open-field cultivation [1,3]. The conventional management system of PGVC crops has been accelerated by long-term anthropogenic activities, such as single crop repetition, the excessive use of synthetic fertilizers and hostile plant protection measures. This could profoundly affect crop productivity and the soil micro-ecological environment [7,8,9,10]. Re-cropping PGVC soil has shown 31–42% lower soil organic matter (SOM) than in open field soils [10,15] and degraded soil becomes vulnerable to the incidence of Fusarium wilt [13,16], caused by the soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum
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