Hatching of Globodera pallida Induced by Root Exudates Is Not Influenced by Soil Microbiota Composition

Exploiting root exudates to manage soil-borne disease complexes in a changing climate

Ongoing climate change will both profoundly impact land-use (e.g., changes in crop species or cultivar and cropping practices) and abiotic factors (e.g., moisture and temperature), which will in turn alter plant-microorganism interactions in soils, including soil-borne pathogens (i.e., plant pathogenic bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, viruses, and nematodes). These pathogens often cause soil-borne disease complexes, which, due to their complexity, frequently remain undiagnosed and unmanaged, leading to chronic yield and quality losses. Root exudates are a complex group of organic substances released in the rhizosphere with potential to recruit, repel, stimulate, inhibit, or kill other organisms, including the detrimental ones. An improved understanding of how root exudates affect interspecies and/or interkingdom interactions in the rhizosphere under ongoing climate change is a prerequisite to effectively manage plant-associated microbes, including those causing diseases.

Dynamic changes of soil microorganisms in rotation farmland at the western foot of the Greater Khingan range

Crop rotation and other tillage systems can affect soil microbial communities and functions. Few studies have reported the response of soil spatial microbial communities to rotation under drought stress. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to explore the dynamic changes of the soil space microbial community under different drought stress-rotation patterns. In this study, two water treatments were set up, control W1 (mass water content 25%-28%), and drought W2 (mass water content 9%-12%). Four crop rotation patterns were set in each water content, spring wheat continuous (R1), spring wheat-potato (R2), spring wheat-potato-rape (R3) and spring wheat-rape (R4), for a total of eight treatments (W1R1, W1R2, W1R3, W1R4, W2R1, W2R2, W2R3, W2R4). Endosphere, rhizosphere and bulk soil of spring wheat in each treatment were collected, and root space microbial community data were generated. The soil microbial community changed under different treatments and their relationship with soil factors were analyzed using a co-occurrence network, mantel test, and other methods. The results revealed that the alpha diversity of microorganisms in the rhizosphere and bulk soil did not differ significantly, but it was significantly greater than in the endosphere. The bacteria community structure was more stable, fungi alpha-diversity significant changes (p < 0.05), that were more sensitive to the response of various treatments than bacteria. The co-occurrence network between fungal species was stable under rotation patterns (R2, R3, R4), while the community stability was poor under continuous cropping pattern (R1), and interactions were strengthened. Soil organic matter (SOM), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), and pH value were the most important factors dominating the bacteria community structural changed in the endosphere, rhizosphere, and bulk soil. The dominant factor that affected the fungal community structural changed in the endosphere, rhizosphere, and bulk soil was SOM. Therefore, we conclude that soil microbial community changes under the drought stress-rotation patterns are mainly influenced by soil SOM and microbial biomass content.

Slight induction and strong inhibition of Heterodera glycines hatching by short-chain molecules released by different plant species

New management tools are necessary to reduce the damage caused by the soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines. Identification of molecules that can stimulate second-stage juveniles (J2) hatching in an environment without food may contribute to that. In in vitro experiments, we evaluate the effect of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by soybean (Glycine max), bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), and alfalfa (Medicago sativa) on H. glycines egg hatching. VOCs released by all plant species significantly (p < 0.05) increased egg hatching. Short-chain molecules released by leaves and roots of soybean and bean increased the hatching up to 71.4%. The analysis of the volatilome done by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry revealed 44 compounds in the plant emissions. Four of them, namely 3-octanol, 1-hexanol, hexanal and linalool were tested individually as hatching inductors. Under concentrations of 200, 600, and 1,000 µg/ml there was no hatching induction of H. glycines J2 by these compounds. On the other hand, in these concentrations, the compounds 3-octanol and 1-hexanol caused hatching reduction with values similar to the commercial nematicide carbofuran (2,3-dihydro-2,2-dimethylbenzofuran-7-yl methyl carbamate). In subsequent tests, the compounds 1-hexanol and 3-octanol showed lethal concentration values required to kill 50% of thenematode population (LC50) of 210 and 228 µg/ml, respectively, in the first experiment and, 230 and 124 µg/mlin the second one. Although we have not identified any molecules acting as hatching factor (HF), here we present a list (44 candidate molecules) that can be explored in future studies to find an efficient HF.