Local Network Properties of Soil and Rhizosphere Microbial Communities in Potato Plantations Treated with a Biological Product Are Important Predictors of Crop Yield
Nabeel Imam, Ignacio Belda, Beatriz García-Jiménez, Adrian J. Duehl, James R. Doroghazi, Daniel E. Almonacid, Varghese P. Thomas, Alberto Acedo
Abstract
Our results reinforce the notion that each cultivar on each location recruits a unique microbial community and that these communities are modulated by the vegetative growth stage of the plant. Moreover, inoculation of a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain QST713-based product on potatoes also changed the abundance of specific taxonomic groups and the structure of local networks in those locations where the product caused an increase in the yield. The data obtained, from in-field assays, allowed training a predictive model to estimate the yield of a certain block, identifying microbiome variables-especially those related to microbial community structure-even with a higher predictive power than the geographical location of the block (that is, the principal determinant of microbial beta-diversity). The methods described here can be replicated to fit new models in any other crop and to evaluate the effect of any agricultural input in the composition and structure of the soil microbiome.