Plants Predictably Select Growth Boosting Microbes Regardless of Soil Type

Plants predictably select growth boosting microbes regardless of soil type

New study shows crop species, and not soil type, primarily determines the beneficial functions provided by root-associated microbes.

In the study, soil obtained from across nine UK locations was used to cultivate six key arable crops (wheat, barley, oats, fava beans, oilseed rape, and sugar beet). Researchers found that although the local soil environment selected which kinds of bacteria were present, the crop species determined the beneficial microbial functions of those bacteria.  The findings have significant implications for the design of microbial inoculants and microbiome-assisted breeding strategies for sustainable agriculture.

The research team from Rothamsted Research, CABI, The John Innes Centre, The James Hutton Institute and The Scottish Rural Agricultural College used the UK Crop Microbiome Cryobank (UKCMCB, https://agmicrobiomebase.org/), the world's first open crop and soil microbiome resource, to characterise more than 24,000 bacterial cultures and 315 soil microbiome libraries.

"What really stood out was that the soil environment dictates which bacteria are present, but the crop selects bacteria based on what beneficial functions they provide," said lead author Dr Rodrigo Taketani of Rothamsted Research. "This tells us that plants are actively selecting microbes for their functional properties — for example, to help with nutrient acquisition or stress tolerance — drawing on locally available bacteria to provide these services."

 Different crops seemed to “choose” microbes with different skills:

• Sugar beet and oilseed rape rhizospheres attracted microbes that help plants survive dry conditions, likely because their large tap roots create a drier root environment.
• Barley attracted microbes that help unlock zinc from the soil, which plants need to grow.
• Fava bean rhizospheres attracted fewer microbes capable of breaking down organic sources of nitrogen in the soil, potentially because the legume–Rhizobium partnership already provides a sufficient nitrogen supply.