Mixed-Cropping Between Field Pea Varieties Alters Root Bacterial and Fungal Communities - PubMed (original) (raw)

Mixed-Cropping Between Field Pea Varieties Alters Root Bacterial and Fungal Communities

Anthony Horner et al. Sci Rep. 2019.

Abstract

Modern agricultural practices have vastly increased crop production but negatively affected soil health. As such, there is a call to develop sustainable, ecologically-viable approaches to food production. Mixed-cropping of plant varieties can increase yields, although impacts on plant-associated microbial communities are unclear, despite their critical role in plant health and broader ecosystem function. We investigated how mixed-cropping between two field pea (Pisum sativum L.) varieties (Winfreda and Ambassador) influenced root-associated microbial communities and yield. The two varieties supported significantly different fungal and bacterial communities when grown as mono-crops. Mixed-cropping caused changes in microbial communities but with differences between varieties. Root bacterial communities of Winfreda remained stable in response to mixed-cropping, whereas those of Ambassador became more similar to Winfreda. Conversely, root fungal communities of Ambassador remained stable under mixed-cropping, and those of Winfreda shifted towards the composition of Ambassador. Microbial co-occurrence networks of both varieties were stronger and larger under mixed-cropping, which may improve stability and resilience in agricultural soils. Both varieties produced slightly higher yields under mixed-cropping, although overall Ambassador plants produced higher yields than Winfreda plants. Our results suggest that variety diversification may increase yield and promote microbial interactions.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Median average (with 25% and 75% quartiles) of the total pod yields for Ambassador and Winfreda pea plants grown using a mono-cropping or mixed-cropping strategy.

Figure 2

Figure 2

NMDS plots of (a) bacterial and (b) fungal communities associated with the roots of Ambassador and Winfreda pea plants grown using a mono-cropping or mixed-cropping strategy. Smaller dots indicate individual samples and larger dots represent the group average.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Relative abundance of the 10 most abundant bacteria (a) and fungi (b) in the roots of two pea varieties under two different cropping strategies.

Figure 4

Figure 4

Co-occurrence networks showing significant (p < 0.05) positive (rho > 0.75; green edges) and negative (rho < −0.75; red edges) interactions between bacterial (blue nodes) and fungal (grey nodes) in the roots of (a) Winfreda pea plants grown as a mono-crop; (b) Winfreda pea plants mixed-cropped with Ambassador pea plants; (c) Ambassador pea plants mixed-cropped with Winfreda pea plants; and (d) Ambassador pea plants grown as a mono-crop.

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