Abstract
Phytate represents an organic pool of phosphorus in soil that requires hydrolysis by phytase enzymes produced by microorganisms prior to its bioavailability by plants. We tested the ability of a microbial suspension made from an old growth maple forest’s undisturbed soil to mineralize phytate in a greenhouse trial on soybean plants inoculated or non-inoculated with the suspension. MiSeq Amplicon sequencing targeting bacterial 16S rRNA gene and fungal ITS was performed to assess microbial community changes following treatments. Our results showed that soybean nodulation and shoot dry weight biomass increased when phytate was applied to the nutrient-poor substrate mixture. Bacterial and fungal diversities of the root and rhizosphere biotopes were relatively resilient following inoculation by microbial suspension; however, bacterial community structure was significantly influenced. Interestingly, four arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) were identified as indicator species, including Glomus sp., Claroideoglomus etunicatum, Funneliformis mosseae and an unidentified AMF taxon. We also observed that an ericoid mycorrhizal taxon Sebacina sp. and three Trichoderma spp. were among indicator species. Non-pathogenic Planctobacteria members highly dominated the bacterial community as core and hub taxa for over 80% of all bacterial datasets in root and rhizosphere biotopes. Overall, our study documented that inoculation with a microbial suspension and phytate amendment improved soybean plant growth.
Highlights
Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient for all living organisms, but due to its low mobility in soil, it is a limiting factor in most agroecosystems
Treatments were labelled as M0 P0 as a control with neither microbial suspension nor phytate; M1 P0 as presence of microbial suspension and absence of phytate; M0 P1 as presence of phytate and absence of microbial suspension; and M1 P1 as a presence of both phytate and microbial suspension
The dominance of Planctobacteria in soybean root and rhizosphere communities in pot culture in the greenhouse was recorded for the first time
Summary
Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient for all living organisms, but due to its low mobility in soil, it is a limiting factor in most agroecosystems. Modern agriculture relies on continuous P fertilizer inputs to maintain high-yielding crop production, resulting in global P fertilizer demand increases of 2.4% per year [2]. Which is a non-renewable resource that is inefficiently used by crop plants [3]. P fertilizerreleased mineral P ions (Pi) react rapidly with binding sites in the soil environment, with plants using only about 20% of the Pi dose applied [1], and residual Pi accumulates in soil, increasing the risk of Pi-related environmental impacts [4]. That said, maintaining soil organic P (Po) is a challenging agricultural paradox
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