Biostimulants (Bio-effectors, BEs) comprise plant growth-promoting microorganisms and active natural substances that promote plant nutrient-acquisition, stress resilience, growth, crop quality and yield. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of BEs, particularly under field conditions, appears highly variable and poorly quantified. Using random model meta-analyses tools, we summarize the effects of 107 BE treatments on the performance of major crops, mainly conducted within the EU-funded project BIOFECTOR with a focus on phosphorus (P) nutrition, over five years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobiome-based solutions are regarded key for sustainable agroecosystems. However, it is unclear how agricultural practices affect the rhizosphere microbiome, plant-microorganism interactions and crop performance under field conditions. Therefore, we installed root observation windows in a winter wheat field cultivated either under long-term mouldboard plough (MP) or cultivator tillage (CT).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe beneficial effect of microbial consortium application on plants is strongly affected by soil conditions, which are influenced by farming practices. The establishment of microbial inoculants in the rhizosphere is a prerequisite for successful plant-microorganism interactions. This study investigated whether a consortium of beneficial microorganisms establishes in the rhizosphere of a winter crop during the vegetation period, including the winter growing season.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe persistence of beneficial microorganisms in the rhizosphere or surrounding soil following their application is a prerequisite for the effective interaction with the plant or indigenous microbial communities in the respective habitats. The goal of the study was to analyze the establishment and persistence of the applied beneficial (OMG16) strain in the maize root-associated soil depending on agricultural practice (soil management practice, N-fertilizer intensity) in a field experiment. A rapid identification of the inoculated strain OMG16 is essential for its monitoring.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToday's pharmaceutical industry is facing various challenges. Two of them are issues with supply chain security and the increasing demand for personalized medicine. Both can be addressed by increasing flexibility and a more decentralized approach to pharmaceutical manufacturing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPriming plants with beneficial microbes can establish rapid and robust resistance against numerous pathogens. Here, compelling evidence is provided that the treatment of rapeseed plants with OMG16 and FZB42 induces defence activation against infection. The relative expressions of the JA biosynthesis genes and , the ET biosynthesis genes and and the SA biosynthesis and signalling genes and were analysed separately in leaf, stem and root tissues using qRT-PCR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe long-term effects of agricultural management such as different fertilization strategies on soil microbiota and soil suppressiveness against plant pathogens are crucial. Therefore, the suppressiveness of soils differing in fertilization history was assessed using two isolates and their respective host plants (lettuce, sugar beet) in pot experiments. Further, the effects of fertilization history and the pathogen AG1-IB on the bulk soil, root-associated soil and rhizosphere microbiota of lettuce were analyzed based on amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and ITS2 region.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRhizosphere-competent microbes often interact with plant roots and exhibit beneficial effects on plant performance. Numerous bacterial and fungal isolates are able to prime host plants for fast adaptive responses against pathogen attacks. Combined action of fungi and bacteria may lead to synergisms exceeding effects of single strains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA better understanding of factors shaping the rhizosphere microbiota is important for sustainable crop production. We hypothesized that the effect of agricultural management on the soil microbiota is reflected in the assemblage of the rhizosphere microbiota with implications for plant performance. We designed a growth chamber experiment growing the model plant lettuce under controlled conditions in soils of a long-term field experiment with contrasting histories of tillage (mouldboard plough vs cultivator tillage), fertilization intensity (intensive standard nitrogen (N) + pesticides/growth regulators vs extensive reduced N without fungicides/growth regulators), and last standing field crop (rapeseed vs winter wheat).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFertilization management can affect plant performance and soil microbiota, involving still poorly understood rhizosphere interactions. We hypothesized that fertilization practice exerts specific effects on rhizodeposition with consequences for recruitment of rhizosphere microbiota and plant performance. To address this hypothesis, we conducted a minirhizotron experiment using lettuce as model plant and field soils with contrasting properties from two long-term field experiments (HUB-LTE: loamy sand, DOK-LTE: silty loam) with organic and mineral fertilization history.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: Low soil temperature in spring is a major constraint for the cultivation of tropical crops in temperate climates. This study aims at the exploitation of synergistic interactions of micronutrients, consortia of plant growth-promoting microorganisms and N forms as cold-stress protectants.
Methods: Maize seedlings were exposed for two weeks to low root zone temperatures at 8-14°C under controlled conditions on a silty clay-loam soil (pH 6.
A growing world population requires an increase in the quality and quantity of food production. However, field losses due to biotic stresses are currently estimated to be between 10 and 20% worldwide. The risk of resistance and strict pesticide legislation necessitate innovative agronomical practices to adequately protect crops in the future, such as the identification of new substances with novel modes of action.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLong-term agricultural fertilization strategies gradually change soil properties including the associated microbial communities. Cultivated crops recruit beneficial microbes from the surrounding soil environment via root exudates. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of long-term fertilization strategies across field sites on the rhizosphere prokaryotic (Bacteria and Archaea) community composition and plant performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhosphate-(P)-solubilizing microorganisms (PSM) are important drivers of P cycling in natural and agro-ecosystems. Their use as plant inoculants to improve P acquisition of crops has been investigated for decades. However, limited reproducibility of the expected effects, particularly under field conditions, remains a major challenge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFungal communities in agricultural soils are assumed to be affected by soil and crop management. Our intention was to investigate the impact of different tillage and fertilization practices on fungal communities in a long-term crop rotation field trial established in 1992 in Central Germany. Two winter wheat fields in replicated strip-tillage design, comprising conventional vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are relevant to individual therapeutic approaches and may play a role in disease susceptibility. Genome-wide scans, which are now widely applied to detect disease-associated SNPs, provide only limited evidence about SNP associations. Their usefulness as disease markers requires appropriate phenotype analysis and retesting of the gene providing SNP information.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe genome of the fungal chickpea pathogen Ascochyta rabiei was screened for polymorphisms by microsatellite-primed PCR. While ethidium-bromide staining of electrophoretically separated amplification products showed only limited polymorphism among 24 Tunisian A. rabiei isolates, Southern hybridization of purified PCR fragments to restriction digests of fungal DNA revealed polymorphic DNA fingerprints.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFifty isolates of Ascochyta rabiei (Pass.) Labr. were hierarchically sampled from four well-separated locations of a single chickpea field in Beja (Tunisia), and single-spored.
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