Rhizosphere Microbiomes of Potato Cultivated under Bacillus subtilis Treatment Influence the Quality of Potato Tubers

Abstract

Plants serve as a niche for the growth and proliferation of a diversity of microorganisms. Soil microorganisms, which closely interact with plants, are increasingly being recognized as factors important to plant health. In this study, we explored the use of high-throughput DNA sequencing of the fungal ITS and bacterial 16S for characterization of the fungal and bacterial microbiomes following biocontrol treatment (DT) with Bacillus subtilis strain Bv17 relative to treatments without biocontrol (DC) during the potato growth cycle at three time points. A total of 5631 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified from the 16S data, and 2236 OTUs were identified from the ITS data. The number of bacterial and fungal OTU in DT was higher than in DC and gradually increased during potato growth. In addition, indices such as Ace, Chao, Shannon, and Simpson were higher in DT than in DC, indicating greater richness and community diversity in soil following the biocontrol treatment. Additionally, the potato tuber yields improved without a measurable change in the bacterial communities following the B. subtilis strain Bv17 treatment. These results suggest that soil microbial communities in the rhizosphere are differentially affected by the biocontrol treatment while improving potato yield, providing a strong basis for biocontrol utilization in crop production.

Revealing plant growth-promoting mechanisms of Bacillus strains in elevating rice growth and its interaction with salt stress

“…Numerous studies have shown that the PGPR application can strongly impact the bacterial community (Song et al, 2021). In the current study, the Proteobacteria, Actinobacteriota, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Armatimonadetes, Chloroflexi, and Acidobacteriia were the dominant microbial communities in the rice rhizosphere soil (Figure 5), which is consistent with earlier findings (Chen et al, 2021a,b).…”

Short impact on soil microbiome of a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens QST713 based product that correlates with higher potato yield across USA

“…These results are in agreement with previous studies, where the inoculation of B. amyloliquefaciens BNM122 in soybean did not significantly change the bacterial community of the rhizosphere ( Correa et al., 2009 ). Similarly, in potato, the inoculation of B. subtilis did not significantly affect the bacterial or fungal community, while improving potato yield ( Song et al., 2021 ). Conversely, the inoculation of Stenotrophomonas rhizophila indirectly promoted plant growth by shaping the soil fungal community in tomato and sweet peppers ( Schmidt et al., 2012 ).…”

Health Parameters of Potato Tubers under the Influence of Soil Applied Bio-Preparations and Bio-Stimulants

“…The resulting increases in the yield of potato tubers were, on average, 8.7%, corresponding to 3.6 t•ha −1 (Figure 5). Song et al [89] state that plants treated with Bacillus subtilis Bv17 strain produce larger yields due to the increase in the weight of the tubers, which results from an increase in dry matter, starch, protein content, and reducing sugars. When introducing a mixture of B. subtilis and Trichoderma harzianum into the soil, Wang et al [90] obtained 23-32.2% yield increases and a 30.6-46.1% reduction in common scab severity.…”