Indicative bacterial communities and taxa of disease-suppressing and growth-promoting composts and their associations to the rhizoplane.

Compost applications vary in their plant growth promotion and plant disease suppression, likely due to differences in physico-chemical and biological parameters. Our hypothesis was that bacteria are important for plant growth promotion and disease suppression of composts and, therefore, composts having these traits would contain similar sets of indicative bacterial taxa. Seventeen composts prepared from five different commercial providers and different starting materials were classified accordingly with bioassays using cress plants and the pathogen Pythium ultimum.

Harnessing the Microbiomes of Suppressive Composts for Plant Protection: From Metagenomes to Beneficial Microorganisms and Reliable Diagnostics.

Soil-borne diseases cause significant yield losses worldwide, are difficult to treat and often only limited options for disease management are available. It has long been known that compost amendments, which are routinely applied in organic and integrated farming as a part of good agricultural practice to close nutrient cycles, can convey a protective effect. Yet, the targeted use of composts against soil-borne diseases is hampered by the unpredictability of the efficacy.