Tomato Plant Microbiota under Conventional and Organic Fertilization Regimes in a Soilless Culture System

Abstract

Tomato is the main vegetable cultivated under soilless culture systems (SCSs); production of organic tomato under SCSs has increased due to consumer demands for healthier and environmentally friendly vegetables. However, organic tomato production under SCSs has been associated with low crop performance and fruit quality defects. These agricultural deficiencies could be linked to alterations in tomato plant microbiota; nonetheless, this issue has not been sufficiently addressed. Thus, the main goal of the present study was to characterize the rhizosphere and phyllosphere of tomato plants cultivated under conventional and organic SCSs. To accomplish this goal, tomato plants grown in commercial greenhouses under conventional or organic SCSs were tested at 8, 26, and 44 weeks after seedling transplantation. Substrate (n = 24), root (n = 24), and fruit (n = 24) composite samples were subjected to DNA extraction and high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The present study revealed that the tomato core microbiota was predominantly constituted by Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes. Remarkably, six bacterial families, Bacillaceae, Microbacteriaceae, Nocardioidaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, Rhodobacteraceae, and Sphingomonadaceae, were shared among all substrate, rhizosphere, and fruit samples. Importantly, it was shown that plants under organic SCSs undergo a dysbiosis characterized by significant changes in the relative abundance of Bradyrhizobiaceae, Caulobacteraceae, Chitinophagaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Erythrobacteraceae, Flavobacteriaceae, Nocardioidaceae, Rhodobacteraceae, and Streptomycetaceae. These results suggest that microbial alterations in substrates, roots, and fruits could be potential factors in contributing to the crop performance and fruit quality deficiencies observed in organic SCSs.

Summer Rice–Winter Potato Rotation Suppresses Various Soil-Borne Plant Fungal Pathogens

“…Meanwhile, the fungal composition in soil samples of the RC system was still different from that of the CC system and those of the CK shown in Figure 3F. The above results indicated that the rice-potato system could effectively modulate soil fungal community and promote the soilborne fungal diversity from a community scale in comparison with those of the CC system, which further validated that RC reshaped a more balanced fungal community [38][39][40] when combined with its much lesser enriched fungal taxa, thus, to effectively suppress the soilborne pathogens. However, when it comes to bacterial diversity, a diversified bacterial community does not denote soil health; for example, several studies concluded that higher bacterial diversity was associated with soil sickness [16,41].…”

Glutamic-N,N-Diacetic Acid as an Innovative Chelating Agent in Microfertilizer Development: Biodegradability, Lettuce Growth Promotion, and Impact on Endospheric Bacterial Communities

“…Alterations in the endophytic plant microbiome can render its destabilization, resulting in decreased crop yield and fruit quality, influenced by various factors such as fertilizer application, a detrimental factor [48]. In many instances, investigations into plant endophytic microbial communities unveil considerable taxonomic overlaps at the phylum level.…”

Brown Coal Waste in Agriculture and Environmental Protection: A Review

“…It can be used on light and heavy soils of arable land at a dose of 20-40 t ha −1 . Brown coal waste of various grain sizes is used directly as a substrate for tomato [68,69], lettuce and cucumber [70,71], and ornamental plants [70] requiring continuous irrigation. By enriching BCW with super sorbents, a substrate that swells to different degrees when exposed to water is obtained.…”