Importance of Soil Temperature for the Growth of Temperate Crops under a Tropical Climate and Functional Role of Soil Microbial Diversity

Abstract

A soil cooling system that prepares soil for temperate soil temperatures for the growth of temperate crops under a tropical climate is described herein. Temperate agriculture has been threatened by the negative impact of temperature increases caused by climate change. Soil temperature closely correlates with the growth of temperate crops, and affects plant processes and soil microbial diversity. The present study focuses on the effects of soil temperatures on lettuce growth and soil microbial diversity that maintains the growth of lettuce at low soil temperatures. A model temperate crop, loose leaf lettuce, was grown on eutrophic soil under soil cooling and a number of parameters, such as fresh weight, height, the number of leaves, and root length, were evaluated upon harvest. Under soil cooling, significant differences were observed in the average fresh weight (P<0.05) and positive development of the roots, shoots, and leaves of lettuce. Janthinobacterium (8.142%), Rhodoplanes (1.991%), Arthrospira (1.138%), Flavobacterium (0.857%), Sphingomonas (0.790%), Mycoplana (0.726%), and Pseudomonas (0.688%) were the dominant bacterial genera present in cooled soil. Key soil fungal communities, including Pseudaleuria (18.307%), Phoma (9.968%), Eocronartium (3.527%), Trichosporon (1.791%), and Pyrenochaeta (0.171%), were also recovered from cooled soil. The present results demonstrate that the growth of temperate crops is dependent on soil temperature, which subsequently affects the abundance and diversity of soil microbial communities that maintain the growth of temperate crops at low soil temperatures.

Bacterial community structure analysis of soil treated with Parthenium hysterophorus L. derived green medium

“…The endospore forming gram positive Bacillus are one of the most commercialized PGPB strains (30). There are reports on plant growth promoting roles of Kaistobacter, Rhodoplanes, Balneimonas, Gemmata, Flavisolibacter also (31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37). For example Kaistobacter was reported to produce plant growth by producing the hormone indole-3acetic acid (31,32).…”

Disruption of Membrane Integrity by the Bacterium-Derived Antifungal Jagaricin

“…Interestingly, Bacillus species producing various amounts of surfactins, iturins, and fengycins are used as biocontrol species in agriculture instead of the purified compounds (58), which have been reported to stimulate the plant defense against pathogens in addition to their direct antimicrobial action (58). Janthinobacteria are commonly found in soil (59,60) raising the question whether jagaricin-related compounds that have coevolved in symbiotic bacterium-plant interactions exist. Therefore, Janthinobacteria might merit further investigations to elucidate their potential as biocontrol species.…”

Coloured plastic mulches: impact on soil properties and crop productivity

“…Soil temperature is one of the main properties of soil which affects crop production. As expressed by different authors, systems and processes involved inside a soil mainly nutrient uptake, absorption of water root growth, and life of soil microorganisms depend on the level of soil temperature [22,23].…”