Aims:  Desmodia are leguminous plants used as important forage and herbal medicine in China. Little information is available about the nodule bacteria of Desmodium species. To understand the genetic diversity of rhizobia associated with Desmodium species grown in China, isolates from temperate and subtropical regions were obtained and analysed. Methods and Results:  A total of 39 rhizobial strains isolated from 9 Desmodium species grown in China were characterized by PCR‐based 16S rDNA gene and 16S–23S rDNA intergenic spacer gene restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The results showed high diversity among rhizobia symbiotic with Desmodium species. Most microsymbionts of Desmodium species belonged to Bradyrhizobium closely related to Bradyrhizobium elkanii, Bradyrhizobium japonicum and Bradyrhizobium yuanmingense. Several small groups or single strain were related to Rhizobium, Sinorhizobium or Mesorhizobium. Conclusions:  Desmodium species formed nodules with diverse rhizobia in Chinese soils. Significance and Impact of the Study:  These results offered the first systematic information about the microsymbionts of desmodia grown in the temperate and subtropical regions of China.

Aims: To investigate the effects of three symbiotic Bradyrhizobium strains on peanut growth and on rhizobacterial communities in flowering and harvest stages in an organic farm, also to evaluate the role of plant development in influencing peanut rhizobacterial microbiota and correlations among the inoculants, rhizobacterial communities and plant growth. Methods and Results: Peanut seeds were inoculated with three individual Bradyrhizobium strains, plant growth performance was measured in two developmental stages and rhizobacterial communities were analysed by Illumina sequencing of rpoB gene amplicons from peanut rhizosphere. The three bradyrhizobial inoculants significantly increased the nodule numbers and aboveground fresh weight of peanut plants regardless of the different growth stages, and the pod yields were increased to some extent and significantly positively correlated with Bradyrhizobium abundances in rhizosphere. Principal coordinate analysis indicated that the rhizobacterial communities were strongly influenced by the inoculation and peanut developmental stages. The bradyrhizobia inoculation increased relative abundances of potentially beneficial bacteria in peanut rhizosphere, and also altered rhizobacterial cooccurrence association networks and important network hub taxa. Similarly, plant development also significantly influenced the structure, composition and co-occurrence association networks of rhizobacterial communities. Conclusions: Bradyrhizobial inoculants increased peanut growth and yields, they and plant development affected the assembly of peanut rhizobacterial communities. Significance and Impact of the Study: Rhizobial inoculants improved the host plant performance that might also be associated with the dynamic changes in rhizobacterial community except enhancing the biological nitrogen fixation and helps to profoundly understand the mechanism how rhizobia inoculants improve plant growth and yields.

Root exudates contain plant metabolites secreted by the roots into the soil, such as ginsenosides secreted by the ginseng root. However, little is known about ginseng root exudate and its impact on the chemical and microbial properties of soil. In this study, the effect of increasing concentrations of ginsenosides on the chemical and microbial properties of soil was tested. Chemical analysis and high-throughput sequencing techniques were used to evaluate the soil chemical properties and microbial characteristics following exogenous application of 0.1 mg·L−1, 1 mg·L−1, and 10 mg·L−1 ginsenosides. Ginsenosides application significantly altered soil enzyme activities; SOM-dominated physicochemical properties were significantly reduced which altered the composition and structure of the soil microbial community. In particular, treatment with 10 mg∙L−1 ginsenosides significantly increased the relative abundance of pathogenic fungi such as Fusarium, Gibberella and Neocosmospora. These findings indicate that ginsenosides in root exudates are important factors that may lead to increased deterioration of soil during ginseng cultivation and provided new research direction for the subsequent study on the mechanism of interaction between ginsenosides and soil microbial communities.

Resumen El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el efecto de la inoculación del HMA Glomus intraradices en el crecimiento de las plantas de fresa variedad Camino Real, fertirrigadas con 0, 1, 3 y 10 mM de N en forma de NH 4 + ó NO 3-. In both cases, the highest values of shoot and root biomass were recorded in plants irrigated with low concentrations of N. These results demonstrated that the inoculation of AMF could reduce the Nfertilizer in strawberry crop. Furthermore, the excess of N-fertilizer inhibited the colonization of AMF and was not necessary for increase the plant growth. Also, the growth reaction of strawberry plants to the AMF inoculation, fertilizer form and dose varied in different growth stages.