Abstract
BACKGROUND: Microbiomes play vital roles in plant health and performance, and the development of plant beneficial microbiomes can be steered by organic fertilizer inputs. Especially well-studied are fertilizer-induced changes on bacteria and fungi and how changes in these groups alter plant performance. However, impacts on protist communities, including their trophic interactions within the microbiome and consequences on plant performance remain largely unknown. Here, we tracked the entire microbiome, including bacteria, fungi, and protists, over six growing seasons of cucumber under different fertilization regimes (conventional, organic, and Trichoderma bio-organic fertilization) and linked microbial data to plant yield to identify plant growth-promoting microbes. RESULTS: Yields were higher in the (bio-)organic fertilization treatments. Soil abiotic conditions were altered by the fertilization regime, with the prominent effects coming from the (bio-)organic fertilization treatments. Those treatments also led to the pronounced shifts in protistan communities, especially microbivorous cercozoan protists. We found positive correlations of these protists with plant yield and the density of potentially plant-beneficial microorganisms. We further explored the mechanistic ramifications of these relationships via greenhouse experiments, showing that cercozoan protists can positively impact plant growth, potentially via interactions with plant-beneficial microorganisms including Trichoderma, the biological agent delivered by the bio-fertilizer. CONCLUSIONS: We show that protists may play central roles in stimulating plant performance through microbiome interactions. Future agricultural practices might aim to specifically enhance plant beneficial protists or apply those protists as novel, sustainable biofertilizers. Video abstract.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Cucumber yields were higher under bio-organic and organic fertilization.
- Taxon
- cucumber
Cucumis sativuse0 - Treatment
- (bio-)organic fertilization treatmentse1
- Outcome
- Yieldse1
- Direction
- highere1
- Comparator
- conventionale0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“six growing seasons of cucumber under different fertilization regimes (conventional, organic, and Trichoderma bio-organic fertilization)”
e1“Yields were higher in the (bio-)organic fertilization treatments.”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertilization regimes altered soil abiotic conditions, particularly the bio-organic and organic treatments.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- (bio-)organic fertilization treatmentse1
- Outcome
- Soil abiotic conditionse1
- Comparator
- conventionale0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“six growing seasons of cucumber under different fertilization regimes (conventional, organic, and Trichoderma bio-organic fertilization)”
e1“Soil abiotic conditions were altered by the fertilization regime, with the prominent effects coming from the (bio-)organic fertilization treatments.”
Claim · model-written summary
Bio-organic and organic fertilization shifted protistan communities, especially microbivorous cercozoan protists.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- organic, and Trichoderma bio-organic fertilizatione0
- Interactor
- microbivorous cercozoan protistse1symbiont
- Outcome
- pronounced shifts in protistan communitiese1
- Comparator
- conventionale0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“six growing seasons of cucumber under different fertilization regimes (conventional, organic, and Trichoderma bio-organic fertilization)”
e1“Those treatments also led to the pronounced shifts in protistan communities, especially microbivorous cercozoan protists.”
Claim · model-written summary
Microbivorous cercozoan protists were positively correlated with plant yield.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativuse0
- Interactor
- microbivorous cercozoan protistse2symbiont
- Outcome
- plant yielde1
- Direction
- positivee1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“six growing seasons of cucumber”
e1“We found positive correlations of these protists with plant yield and the density of potentially plant-beneficial microorganisms.”
e2“microbivorous cercozoan protists”
Claim · model-written summary
Microbivorous cercozoan protists were positively correlated with density of potentially beneficial microorganisms.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativuse0
- Interactor
- microbivorous cercozoan protistse2symbiont
- Outcome
- density of potentially plant-beneficial microorganismse1
- Direction
- positivee1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“six growing seasons of cucumber”
e1“We found positive correlations of these protists with plant yield and the density of potentially plant-beneficial microorganisms.”
e2“microbivorous cercozoan protists”
Claim · model-written summary
Greenhouse experiments found that cercozoan protists can increase plant growth, potentially through beneficial microorganisms including Trichoderma.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- cercozoan protistse1
- Interactor
- cercozoan protistse1symbiont
- Second interactor
- Trichoderma
Trichodermae1symbiont - Outcome
- plant growthe1
- Direction
- positivelye1
- Qualifier
- potentially via interactions with plant-beneficial microorganisms including Trichodermae1
- Setting
- greenhousee1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“six growing seasons of cucumber”
e1“greenhouse experiments, showing that cercozoan protists can positively impact plant growth, potentially via interactions with plant-beneficial microorganisms including Trichoderma, the biological agent delivered by the bio-fertilizer”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors suggest enhancing or applying plant-beneficial protists as biofertilizers.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativuse0
- Interactor
- plant beneficial protistse1symbiont
- Outcome
- enhance plant beneficial protists or apply those protists as novel, sustainable biofertilizerse1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“six growing seasons of cucumber”
e1“Future agricultural practices might aim to specifically enhance plant beneficial protists or apply those protists as novel, sustainable biofertilizers.”
The same questions in other papers
fertilization · yield · Cucumis sativus (cucumber)Positive and negative results
262 papers in the same direction as this paper · 19 in the opposite direction · 6 reporting no difference from an alternative
- negative
- no effect
- no effect
284 papers more in this group
See all 288 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.