The Effects of Salinity and Genotype on the Rhizospheric Mycobiomes in Date Palm Seedlings.

Salinity severely affects the health and productivity of plants, with root-associated microbes, including fungi, potentially playing a crucial role in mitigating this effect and promoting plant health. This study employed metagenomics to investigate differences in the structures of the epiphyte mycobiomes in the rhizospheres of seedlings of two distinct date palm cultivars with contrasting salinity tolerances, the susceptible cultivar, 'Zabad', and the tolerant cultivar, 'Umsila'. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rRNA was utilized as a DNA barcoding tool.

The Effect of Date Palm Genotypes on Rhizobacterial Community Structures under Saline Environments.

Some genotypes of date palms ( L.) are salt-tolerant; however, salinity significantly affects others. This study aimed to determine the root epiphytic bacterial contributions to the salt tolerance mechanism in the date palm and to verify if the salt-tolerant "Umsila" and the salt-susceptible "Zabad" cultivars have different bacterial communities.