Protists as main indicators and determinants of plant performance

Microbiome

Zhilei Gao¹  George A. Kowalchuk¹  Xinnan Hang²  Nan Zhang²  Hongjun Liu²  Wu Xiong³  Sai Guo⁴  Zixuan Jiao⁴  Qirong Shen⁴  Yani Mo⁴  Rong Li⁵  Stefan Geisen⁶ 

[1] Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands;Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab of Solid Organic Waste Utilization, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Solid Organic Wastes, Educational Ministry Engineering Center of Resource-saving fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, 210095, Nanjing, PR China;Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab of Solid Organic Waste Utilization, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Solid Organic Wastes, Educational Ministry Engineering Center of Resource-saving fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, 210095, Nanjing, PR China;Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands;Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab of Solid Organic Waste Utilization, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Solid Organic Wastes, Educational Ministry Engineering Center of Resource-saving fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, 210095, Nanjing, PR China;The Key Laboratory of Plant Immunity, Nanjing Agricultural University, 210095, Nanjing, PR China;Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab of Solid Organic Waste Utilization, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Solid Organic Wastes, Educational Ministry Engineering Center of Resource-saving fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, 210095, Nanjing, PR China;The Key Laboratory of Plant Immunity, Nanjing Agricultural University, 210095, Nanjing, PR China;Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands;Laboratory of Nematology, Wageningen University, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands;Netherlands Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute for Ecology, (NIOO-KNAW), 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands;

关键词: Soil protist community;    Soil management;    Organic fertilizers;    Crop yield enhancement;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40168-021-01025-w

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMicrobiomes play vital roles in plant health and performance, and the development of plant beneficial microbiomes can be steered by organic fertilizer inputs. Especially well-studied are fertilizer-induced changes on bacteria and fungi and how changes in these groups alter plant performance. However, impacts on protist communities, including their trophic interactions within the microbiome and consequences on plant performance remain largely unknown. Here, we tracked the entire microbiome, including bacteria, fungi, and protists, over six growing seasons of cucumber under different fertilization regimes (conventional, organic, and Trichoderma bio-organic fertilization) and linked microbial data to plant yield to identify plant growth-promoting microbes.ResultsYields were higher in the (bio-)organic fertilization treatments. Soil abiotic conditions were altered by the fertilization regime, with the prominent effects coming from the (bio-)organic fertilization treatments. Those treatments also led to the pronounced shifts in protistan communities, especially microbivorous cercozoan protists. We found positive correlations of these protists with plant yield and the density of potentially plant-beneficial microorganisms. We further explored the mechanistic ramifications of these relationships via greenhouse experiments, showing that cercozoan protists can positively impact plant growth, potentially via interactions with plant-beneficial microorganisms including Trichoderma, the biological agent delivered by the bio-fertilizer.ConclusionsWe show that protists may play central roles in stimulating plant performance through microbiome interactions. Future agricultural practices might aim to specifically enhance plant beneficial protists or apply those protists as novel, sustainable biofertilizers.9YGnSNgqaHj2gH_1N6en5wVideo abstract

【 授权许可】

CC BY