Rhizosphere microbial community and its response to plant species and soil history

• Published in: Plant and soil 2008-01, Vol.302 (1-2), p.19-32
• Main Authors: Garbeva, P, van Elsas, J. D, van Veen, J. A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Agricultural practices; Agricultural soils; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Avena sativa; Bacillus; Bacteria; Bacterial antagonist; Barley; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cereal crops; Corn; Crop rotation; Ecology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Grasses; Grassland soils; Grasslands; Hordeum vulgare; Land use; Life Sciences; Microbial activity; Microbiology; Monoculture; Oats; Plant effect; Plant pathology; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Plant species; Plants; Population structure; Pseudomonas; Regular Article; Rhizoctonia solani; Rhizosphere; Soil microbial diversity and community; Soil microorganisms; Soil Science & Conservation; Soil type; Soil types; Soils; Solanum tuberosum; Zea mays
• ISSN: 0032-079X; 1573-5036
• DOI: 10.1007/s11104-007-9432-0

The plant rhizosphere is a dynamic environment in which many parameters may influence the population structure, diversity and activity of the microbial community. Two important factors determining the structure of microbial community present in the vicinity of plant roots are plant species and soil type. In the present study we assessed the structure of microbial communities in response to four plant species (i.e. maize (Zea mays L.), oat (Avena sativa L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and commercial grass mix) planted in soil with different land use history (i.e. arable land under crop rotation, maize monoculture and permanent grassland). Both factors, plant species and land use history, showed clear effects on microbial community and diversity as determined by PCR-DGGE fingerprinting with universal and group-specific bacterial primers. Moreover, we explored the rhizosphere effect of these plant species on the abundance of bacterial antagonists of the potato pathogen Rhizoctonia solani AG3. The data showed that the abundance and taxonomic composition of antagonists differed clearly between the different plants. The highest percentages of antagonists were found in maize and grass rhizosphere. When antagonistic Pseudomonas populations were compared, the highest, abundance and diversity of antagonists were detected in barley and oat rhizospheres, as compared to maize and grass rhizosphere. The results obtained in our study demonstrate clearly that plant species and soil type are two important factors affecting the structure of total bacterial, Pseudomonas and Bacillus community.