Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
6.2
3.3
Journals
Agronomy
Special Issues
Drivers of Microbial Diversity and Roles in Agroecosystems
share announcement

Drivers of Microbial Diversity and Roles in Agroecosystems

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Farming Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 June 2020) | Viewed by 22453

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Luke Moe

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, 311 Plant Science Building, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546-0312, USA
Interests: microbial ecology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Microbes play major roles in the health and functioning of agroecosystems, yet much remains to be learned about what drives their diversity and the mechanisms at play for both positive and negative agroecosystem services. Microbes impact soil nutrient cycling and plant health and agronomic yield, and this impact has the potential to be both positive and negative. With this Special Issue, we aim to highlight research on the diversity and functioning of microbes in agroecosystems, including research in soil microbiology, plant microbiome structure and function, and plant–microbe interactions. Submissions are welcome in any area that explores the roles of microbes in agroecosystems.

Dr. Luke Moe
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Soil microbial diversity
  • Plant microbiome structure and function
  • Agroecosystem services
  • Plant–pathogen interactions
  • Plant-beneficial microbes.

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

13 pages, 1298 KiB  
Article
Root Fungal Endophytes and Microbial Extracellular Enzyme Activities Show Patterned Responses in Tall Fescues under Drought Conditions
by Kevin Panke-Buisse, Liang Cheng, Huijie Gan, Kyle Wickings, Marty Petrovic and Jenny Kao-Kniffin
Agronomy 2020, 10(8), 1076; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10081076 - 26 Jul 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3508
Abstract
Plant response to water stress can be modified by the rhizosphere microbial community, but the range of responses across plant genotypes is unclear. We imposed drought conditions on 116 Festuca arundinacea (tall fescue) accessions using a rainout shelter for 46 days, followed by [...] Read more.
Plant response to water stress can be modified by the rhizosphere microbial community, but the range of responses across plant genotypes is unclear. We imposed drought conditions on 116 Festuca arundinacea (tall fescue) accessions using a rainout shelter for 46 days, followed by irrigation, to stimulate drought recovery in 24 days. We hypothesized that prolonged water deficit results in a range of phenotypic diversity (i.e., green color index) across tall fescue genotypes that are associated with distinct microbial taxonomic and functional traits impacting plant drought tolerance. Microbial extracellular enzyme activities of chitinase and phenol oxidase (targeting chitin and lignin) increased in rhizospheres of the 20 most drought tolerant genotypes. Lower rates of fungal (dark septate) endophyte root infection were found in roots of the most drought tolerant genotypes. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene and fungal ITS sequencing showed shifts in microbial communities across water deficit conditions prior to drought, during drought, and at drought recovery, but was not patterned by drought tolerance levels of the plant host. The results suggest that taxonomic information from bacterial 16S rRNA gene and fungal ITS sequences provided little indication of microbial composition impacting drought tolerance of the host plant, but instead, microbial extracellular enzyme activities and root fungal infection results revealed patterned responses from drought. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drivers of Microbial Diversity and Roles in Agroecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 1741 KiB  
Article
Host Specificity of Endophytic Fungi from Stem Tissue of Nature Farming Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill.) in Japan
by Khondoker Mohammad Golam Dastogeer, Yutaro Oshita, Michiko Yasuda, Makoto Kanasugi, Eri Matsuura, Qicong Xu and Shin Okazaki
Agronomy 2020, 10(7), 1019; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10071019 - 15 Jul 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4019
Abstract
To understand the distribution of the cultivable fungal community in plant tissues from nature farming tomato plants, we sampled plants of seven different tomato cultivars and recovered 1742 fungal isolates from 1895 stem tissues sampled from three sites in Japan. Overall, the isolation [...] Read more.
To understand the distribution of the cultivable fungal community in plant tissues from nature farming tomato plants, we sampled plants of seven different tomato cultivars and recovered 1742 fungal isolates from 1895 stem tissues sampled from three sites in Japan. Overall, the isolation frequency was low (3–13%) and the isolation and colonization frequencies did not vary significantly as a function of the cultivar. The fungi were divided into 29 unique operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with 97% ITS gene sequence identity, the majority of which belong to Ascomycota (99.3%). The dominant genera of cultivable endophytic fungi were Fusarium (45.1%), Alternaria (12.8%), Gibberella (12.0%), and Dipodascus (6.8%). The alpha diversity of the fungal endophytes varied among tomato cultivars. Ordination analysis performed to investigate patterns of endophyte community assemblages on the various cultivars revealed that host cultivars had a significant impact on the endophyte community assemblages in all the study sites. Some of the taxa Fusarium, Alternaria, and Penicillium were found on all cultivars, while few were uniquely present in different cultivars. The dominant taxa may be adapted to the particular microecological and physiological conditions present in tomato stems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drivers of Microbial Diversity and Roles in Agroecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

11 pages, 684 KiB  
Article
Enzymatic Activity of Soil under Spelt Grown in An Organic Farming System in Poland’s Temperate Climate
by Barbara Filipek-Mazur, Katarzyna Pużyńska, Monika Tabak and Stanisław Pużyński
Agronomy 2020, 10(7), 930; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10070930 - 29 Jun 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2282
Abstract
Wheat spelt is a very valuable plant, especially in organic farming. Its high nutritional values combined with low soil and climate requirements increase the interest in growing spelt in various soils. Spelt can be grown in different soil types, including sandy, wet, poor, [...] Read more.
Wheat spelt is a very valuable plant, especially in organic farming. Its high nutritional values combined with low soil and climate requirements increase the interest in growing spelt in various soils. Spelt can be grown in different soil types, including sandy, wet, poor, non-draining and low-fertility soils. It is well adapted to cold climate. Compared to common wheat, it requires less nutrients and is more competitive against weeds. Activities of enzymes in soil under winter spelt have not been studied yet. We sought to determine whether the choice of varieties will also shape the enzymatic activities in different soil types and whether these activities will be the same under different climatic conditions of 2007, 2010 and 2013 year. The aim of this field experiment was to assess the impact of growing different winter spelt varieties (Oberkulmer Rotkorn, Franckenkorn, Schwabenkorn, Ostro) on the enzymatic activity on two different soil complexes. In the years 2007–2013, two three-year rotations of the experiment were carried out (the first ended in 2010 and the second in 2013). Spelt was cultivated in an organic system. Physicochemical properties of the two different types of soil after three and six years of the experiment were compared to the soil properties before the experiment. The catalase activity ranged between 3.33 and 6.75 µmol H2O2 g−1 d.m. min.−1, the dehydrogenase activity ranged between 1.6 and 87.7 nmol TPF g−1 d.m. 24 h−1, and the arylsulfatase activity ranged between 37.5 and 157 µmol pNF g−1 d.m. h−1. The enzymatic activity in the soil depended on the type of soil (as a rule, the activity was higher in a stagnic luvisol than in a haplic cambisol) and on the spelt variety (although no variety had a clear beneficial effect on the activities of all enzymes). Spelt cultivation in an organic system led to an increase of enzymatic activity in a stagnic luvisol, but not always in a haplic cambisol soil type. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drivers of Microbial Diversity and Roles in Agroecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 1758 KiB  
Article
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Associated with Rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Ghana: Effect of Regional Locations and Soil Factors on Diversity and Community Assembly
by Elsie Sarkodee-Addo, Michiko Yasuda, Chol Gyu Lee, Makoto Kanasugi, Yoshiharu Fujii, Richard Ansong Omari, Samuel Oppong Abebrese, Ralph Bam, Stella Asuming-Brempong, Khondoker Mohammad Golam Dastogeer and Shin Okazaki
Agronomy 2020, 10(4), 559; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10040559 - 12 Apr 2020
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 7064
Abstract
Understanding the community composition and diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in an agricultural ecosystem is important for exploiting their potential in sustainable crop production. In this study, we described the genetic diversity and community structure of indigenous AMF in rain-fed rice cultivars [...] Read more.
Understanding the community composition and diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in an agricultural ecosystem is important for exploiting their potential in sustainable crop production. In this study, we described the genetic diversity and community structure of indigenous AMF in rain-fed rice cultivars across six different regions in Ghana. The morphological and molecular analyses revealed a total of 15 different AMF genera isolated from rice roots. Rhizophagus and Glomus were observed to be predominant in all regions except the Ashanti region, which was dominated by the genera Scutellospora and Acaulospora. A comparison of AMF diversity among the agroecological zones revealed that Guinea Savannah had the highest diversity. Permutational Multivariate Analysis of Variance (PERMANOVA) analysis indicated that the available phosphorus (AP) in the soil was the principal determining factor for shaping the AMF community structure (p < 0.05). We report, for the first time, AMF diversity and community structure in rice roots and how communities are affected by the chemical properties of soil from different locations in Ghana. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drivers of Microbial Diversity and Roles in Agroecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

10 pages, 1575 KiB  
Article
The Microbiology of Hemp Retting in a Controlled Environment: Steering the Hemp Microbiome towards More Consistent Fiber Production
by Audrey D. Law, C. Ruth McNees and Luke A. Moe
Agronomy 2020, 10(4), 492; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10040492 - 1 Apr 2020
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 5039
Abstract
Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) production is increasing dramatically in the US due to recent changes which lift restrictions on the growth and sale of hemp products; however, due to the decades-long prohibition of hemp, there is a lack of current research [...] Read more.
Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) production is increasing dramatically in the US due to recent changes which lift restrictions on the growth and sale of hemp products; however, due to the decades-long prohibition of hemp, there is a lack of current research with respect to varieties and best agricultural practices for the many uses of this versatile crop. Natural fiber production relies on retting, a microbially-mediated process necessary for the separation of fibers from the plant which can occur unevenly in the field environment and result in inconsistent fiber quality and lower processing efficiency. In this study, the microbiome of hemp stalks is investigated throughout the retting process using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing using the Illumina MiSeq platform. Field retting conditions were simulated in a controlled greenhouse environment in order to determine the effects of different moisture levels and soil contact on the retting process. Samples were taken over six time points, reflecting the community of freshly cut stalks to optimally-retted material, and finally over-retted material showing degraded fibers. The results show a very consistent population throughout retting, dominated primarily by Proteobacteria, but showing an increase in the abundance of the Bacteroidetes, namely Chryseobacterium, in time points corresponding to optimally-retted and over-retted stalks in treatments receiving higher moisture levels, but not in the low-moisture treatment. Soil application did not appear to influence the microbial community throughout retting, indicating a resilient population present in and on the hemp stalks at harvest. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drivers of Microbial Diversity and Roles in Agroecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5
Back to TopTop