Relationship of microbial communities and suppressiveness of Trichoderma fortified composts for pepper seedlings infected by Phytophthora nicotianae

PLoS One. 2017 Mar 27;12(3):e0174069. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0174069. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

The understanding of the dynamic of soil-borne diseases is related to the microbial composition of the rhizosphere which is the key to progress in the field of biological control. Trichoderma spp. is commonly used as a biological control agent. The use of next generation sequencing approaches and quantitative PCR are two successful approaches to assess the effect of using compost as substrate fortified with two Trichoderma strains (Trichoderma harzianum or Trichoderma asperellum) on bacterial and fungal communities in pepper rhizosphere infected with Phytophthora nicotianae. The results showed changes in the bacterial rhizosphere community not attributed to the Trichoderma strain, but to the pathogen infection, while, fungi were not affected by pathogen infection and depended on the type of substrate. The Trichoderma asperellum fortified compost was the most effective combination against the pathogen. This could indicate that the effect of fortified composts is greater than compost itself and the biocontrol effect should be attributed to the Trichoderma strains rather than the compost microbiota, although some microorganisms could help with the biocontrol effect.

MeSH terms

  • Bacteria / isolation & purification
  • Capsicum / growth & development
  • Capsicum / microbiology
  • Capsicum / parasitology*
  • Fungi / isolation & purification
  • Pest Control, Biological
  • Phytophthora / physiology*
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology
  • Plant Diseases / parasitology*
  • Rhizosphere*
  • Seedlings / growth & development
  • Seedlings / microbiology
  • Seedlings / parasitology*
  • Soil / chemistry
  • Soil / parasitology
  • Soil Microbiology*
  • Trichoderma / physiology*

Substances

  • Soil

Grants and funding

This research has been supported by the Spanish National Project AGL2014-52732-C2-1-R. Also, the authors would like to thank the Fundación Séneca of the Region of Murcia for its financial support within the Research Groups of Excellence programme of the Region of Murcia (19896/GERM/15).