Abstract
Although microbes influence plant growth, little is known about the impact of microbial diversity on plant fitness trade-offs, intraspecific-interactions, and soil nutrient dynamics in the context of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) research. The BEF theory states that higher species richness can enhance ecosystem functioning. Thus, we hypothesize that rhizobacterial species richness will alter sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) growth, soil nutrient dynamics and interactions (antagonism or synergism) in a nutrient-poor greenhouse soil. Using six rhizobacterial species in a BEF experiment, we tested the impact of a species richness gradient (0, 1, 3, 5 or 6 species per community) on plant growth, nutrient assimilation, and soil nutrient dynamics via seed-inoculation. Our experiment included, one un-inoculated control, six rhizobacterial monoculture (Pseudomonas poae, Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus pumilus., Pantoea agglomerance., Microbacterium sp., and Serratia marcescens), and their nine mixture treatments in triplicate (48). Rhizobacterial species richness enhanced per pot above- or below-ground dry mass. However, the per plant growth and plant nutrient assimilation declined, most likely, due to microbial-driven competitive interactions among sorghum plants. But nevertheless, some rhizobacterial monoculture and mixture treatments improved per plant (shoot and root) growth and nutrient assimilation as well. Soil nutrient contents were mostly lower at higher plant-associated rhizobacterial diversity; among these, the soil Zn contents decreased significantly across the rhizobacterial diversity gradient. Rhizobacterial diversity promoted synergistic interactions among soil nutrients and improved root–soil interactions. Overall, our results suggest that a higher rhizobacterial diversity may enhance soil-plant interactions and total productivity under resource limited conditions.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-22-2020
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72516-3
Funding Information
National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement No. 1355438 and 1826715 (SD) as well as United States Department of Agriculture Hatch funding supported this work (SD).
Repository Citation
Sahib, Mohammad Radhi; Pervaiz, Zahida H.; Williams, Mark A.; Saleem, Muhammad; and DeBolt, Seth, "Rhizobacterial Species Richness Improves Sorghum Growth and Soil Nutrient Synergism in a Nutrient-Poor Greenhouse Soil" (2020). Horticulture Faculty Publications. 47.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/horticulture_facpub/47
Supplementary Information 1
41598_2020_72516_MOESM2_ESM.pdf (765 kB)
Supplementary Information 2
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Scientific Reports, v. 10, issue 1, article no. 15454.
© The Author(s) 2020
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.