The Greenhouse Phyllosphere Microbiome and Associations with Introduced Bumblebees and Predatory Mites
Marie Legein, Wenke Smets, Karen Wuyts, Lien Bosmans, Roeland Samson, Sarah Lebeer
Abstract
Greenhouses, though highly effective agricultural environments, are characterized by reduced sources of bacterial diversity and means of dispersal compared to more natural settings. As it is known that plant health and productivity are affected by associated bacteria, improving our knowledge on the bacterial communities on greenhouse crops is key to further innovate in horticulture. Our findings show that tomato and strawberry crops cultivated in greenhouses harbor poor and variable bacterial communities. Furthermore, commonly implemented biological solutions (i.e., those based on living organisms such as bumblebees and predatory mites) are important sources and means of dispersal of bacteria in greenhouses. This study shows that there is great potential in using these biological solutions to enrich the greenhouse microbiome by introducing and dispersing microbes which have beneficial effects on crop production and protection, provided that the dispersed microbes have a beneficial function.