Conservation tillage and organic farming induce minor variations in Pseudomonas abundance, their antimicrobial function and soil disease resistance
Author / Producer
Date
2018-08
Publication Type
Journal Article
ETH Bibliography
yes
Citations
Altmetric
Data
Rights / License
Abstract
Conservation tillage and organic farming are strategies used worldwide to preserve the stability and fertility of soils. While positive effects on soil structure have been extensively reported, the effects on specific root- and soil-associated microorganisms are less known. The aim of this study was to investigate how conservation tillage and organic farming influence the frequency and activity of plant-beneficial pseudomonads. Amplicon sequencing using the 16S rRNA gene revealed that Pseudomonas is among the most abundant bacterial taxa in the root microbiome of field-grown wheat, independent of agronomical practices. However, pseudomonads carrying genes required for the biosynthesis of specific antimicrobial compounds were enriched in samples from conventionally farmed plots without tillage. In contrast, disease resistance tests indicated that soil from conventional no tillage plots is less resistant to the soilborne pathogen Pythium ultimum compared to soil from organic reduced tillage plots, which exhibited the highest resistance of all compared cropping systems. Reporter strain-based gene expression assays did not reveal any differences in Pseudomonas antimicrobial gene expression between soils from different cropping systems. Our results suggest that plant-beneficial pseudomonads can be favoured by certain soil cropping systems, but soil resistance against plant diseases is likely determined by a multitude of biotic factors in addition to Pseudomonas.
Permanent link
Publication status
published
External links
Editor
Book title
Journal / series
Volume
94 (8)
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Event
Edition / version
Methods
Software
Geographic location
Date collected
Date created
Subject
Pythium ultimum; Gaeumannomyces tritici; phenazines; 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol; cropping system; pyrrolnitrin; FAST
Organisational unit
03516 - McDonald, Bruce (emeritus) / McDonald, Bruce (emeritus)
Notes
Funding
143141 - Sustaining and improving soil health with plant-beneficial bacteria (SNF)
Related publications and datasets
Is supplemented by: