Wheat dwarfing influences selection of the rhizosphere microbiome

Abstract

The development of dwarf wheat cultivars combined with high levels of agrochemical inputs during the green revolution resulted in high yielding cropping systems. However, changes in wheat cultivars were made without considering impacts on plant and soil microbe interactions. We studied the effect of these changes on root traits and on the assembly of rhizosphere bacterial communities by comparing eight wheat cultivars ranging from tall to semi-dwarf plants grown under field conditions. Wheat breeding influenced root diameter and specific root length (SRL). Rhizosphere bacterial communities from tall cultivars were distinct from those associated with semi-dwarf cultivars, with higher differential abundance of Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria in tall cultivars, compared with a higher differential abundance of Verrucomicrobia, Planctomycetes and Acidobacteria in semi-dwarf cultivars. Predicted microbial functions were also impacted and network analysis revealed a greater level of connectedness between microbial communities in the tall cultivars relative to semi-dwarf cultivars. Taken together, results suggest that the development of semi-dwarf plants might have affected the ability of plants to recruit and sustain a complex bacterial community network in the rhizosphere.