In agriculture, managing plant nutrient uptake amidst environmental stressors, such as nitrogen and water scarcity, remains a key challenge. Rhizosphere bacteria have long been recognized for their role in plant growth, but the extent of their impact on multinutrient traits across different environmental conditions is underexplored. This study focused on tomato plants, using them as a model to understand how bacterial communities contribute to plant nutrition. Nitrogen and water availability were used as stress factors to observe how these variables influence bacterial community diversity and functionality, ultimately affecting the host plant’s nutrient cycling capacity.
Published (DOI: 10.1093/hr/uhae290) in Horticulture Research, a recent study by researchers at Sun Yat-sen University sheds light on the complex interactions between tomato plants and their rhizospheric bacteria. The team, led by Ruo-Han Xie and Jun-Jie Guo, examined how nitrogen and water availability influence microbial communities and plant nutrient uptake. The findings, available in the October 2024 issue, reveal that microbial diversity and network complexity are key drivers of multinutrient absorption in tomatoes, offering new strategies for sustainable agriculture.
The research team observed that water availability had a stronger impact than nitrogen levels on the rhizobacterial community's diversity and functionality. The study used a multinutrient cycling index (MNC) to quantify nutrient uptake by tomato plants under different nitrogen and water treatments. They found that increased microbial diversity and the abundance of core bacterial genera, such as Candidatus Koribacter and Streptomyces, were positively correlated with higher MNC scores, indicating improved nutrient uptake. Additionally, the bacterial network’s complexity, assessed through co-occurrence networks, showed that a more intricate microbial network led to better nutrient utilization. Under drought conditions, the bacterial community’s structure changed significantly, demonstrating the sensitivity of microbial interactions to water availability. The study also highlighted that nitrogen fertilization under waterlogged conditions had a nuanced effect, reducing microbial respiration and altering the community’s diversity, which in turn impacted nutrient uptake.
"This research significantly deepens our understanding of how rhizobacteria regulate plant nutrient traits," said Dr. Jun-Jie Guo, co-author of the study. "By exploring how microbial communities respond to varying nitrogen and water levels, we can better design agricultural practices that enhance plant health and productivity, even under stress. These findings also open up new pathways for microbiome-based strategies to optimize nutrient cycling, contributing to more sustainable farming practices in the face of global environmental challenges."
The implications of this research are vast for sustainable agriculture. By manipulating the rhizospheric microbiome, we can enhance plant nutrient uptake, leading to improved crop yields under suboptimal environmental conditions. The findings suggest that microbiome engineering could become a key tool in developing more resilient crops that thrive in water-scarce and nitrogen-limited environments. Furthermore, this study lays the groundwork for the future design of microbial inoculants that could be applied to agricultural soils, supporting the development of sustainable farming systems that reduce dependence on chemical fertilizers while boosting crop productivity.
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References
DOI
10.1093/hr/uhae290
Original Source URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhae290
Funding information
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32202468, 32372808), the Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province (2021A1515110126, 2023A1515012213), the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (202206193000001, 20220816113416001, JCYJ20230807111217035) and the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (2019QNRC001).
About Horticulture Research
Horticulture Research is an open access journal of Nanjing Agricultural University and ranked number one in the Horticulture category of the Journal Citation Reports ™ from Clarivate, 2023. The journal is committed to publishing original research articles, reviews, perspectives, comments, correspondence articles and letters to the editor related to all major horticultural plants and disciplines, including biotechnology, breeding, cellular and molecular biology, evolution, genetics, inter-species interactions, physiology, and the origination and domestication of crops.