Manipulating the banana rhizosphere microbiome for biological control of Panama disease.

Chao Xue,Yunze Ruan,C Ryan Penton,Ruifu Zhang,Qirong Shen,Zongzhuan Shen,Qiwei Huang,Rong Li

doi:10.1038/srep11124

Chao Xue, Yunze Ruan + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep11124

Copy DOI

Abstract

Panama disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense infection on banana is devastating banana plantations worldwide. Biological control has been proposed to suppress Panama disease, though the stability and survival of bio-control microorganisms in field setting is largely unknown. In order to develop a bio-control strategy for this disease, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to assess the microbial community of a disease-suppressive soil. Bacillus was identified as the dominant bacterial group in the suppressive soil. For this reason, B. amyloliquefaciens NJN-6 isolated from the suppressive soil was selected as a potential bio-control agent. A bioorganic fertilizer (BIO), formulated by combining this isolate with compost, was applied in nursery pots to assess the bio-control of Panama disease. Results showed that BIO significantly decreased disease incidence by 68.5%, resulting in a doubled yield. Moreover, bacterial community structure was significantly correlated to disease incidence and yield and Bacillus colonization was negatively correlated with pathogen abundance and disease incidence, but positively correlated to yield. In total, the application of BIO altered the rhizo-bacterial community by establishing beneficial strains that dominated the microbial community and decreased pathogen colonization in the banana rhizosphere, which plays an important role in the management of Panama disease.

Highlights

Completely resistant to FOC-TR4 by traditional breeding, has been impeded by triploidy
We demonstrate that bioorganic fertilizer (BIO) application establishes a beneficial taxa-dominated microbiome in the banana rhizosphere, which plays an important role in the management of Fusarium wilt disease in banana plantations
Clustering at 3% nucleotide dissimilarity resulted in 180 OTUs that were classified into 7 phylum, 16 classes, and 87 genera

Summary

Introduction

Completely resistant to FOC-TR4 by traditional breeding, has been impeded by triploidy. Microorganisms beneficial to disease suppression are commonly isolated, cultured, and applied to soil for potential disease control[16,17] Their survival, stability, and influence on the nascent microbial community are largely unknown, resulting in an inconsistent field performance. We have developed an optimized biological strategy, which results in consistent disease suppression to field-based soil-borne disease on diverse crops[22,23,24,25,26] This was accomplished by nursery pot application of a bioorganic fertilizer (BIO) composed of a fermentation product derived from a beneficial bacterial strain mixed with an amino acid fertilizer (Fig. 1). Comparisons of microbial community structure between disease-suppressive and diseased soils, beneficial strain isolation, and a field study implementing BIO application are investigated. The following specific questions were addressed to further support our concept of manipulating the rhizosphere microbiome in order to suppress soil-borne disease: (i) Is the health status of the banana plant associated with the composition of the soil microbial community? (ii) What is the microbial community in disease-suppressive soil? (iii) Can BIO suppress Panama disease by manipulating the rhizosphere microbial community?

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion