Speaker
Description
Background and objectives
Population growth increases food demand and this has been maximised over time through breeding varieties with higher yield. In parallel, the widespread use of pesticides and fertilisers can reduce the diversity and abundance of soil organisms. Concerns about biodiversity loss highlight the need for sustainable food production. One approach to achieve this is to utilise mutualistic interactions with soil organisms, which promote plant nutrition and stress tolerance. However, little is known if and how interactions with mutualists have changed during breeding.
Methods
We examined interactions between soil organisms and 13 barley varieties released between 1953 and 2024 to test whether breeding has altered these interactions. We grew barley varieties in a pot experiment using soils from organically and conventionally managed fields. In both management types, each variety was grown in soils previously occupied by (1) the same variety, (2) by another barley variety, (3) by wheat, representing traditional crop rotation and (4) in sterilised soil.
We estimated the influence of soil organisms by measuring aboveground biomass, grain weight, and grain quality. We characterised soil fungal communities using sequencing and analysed leaf and root traits of barley varieties.
Results
In general, plants grew better in sterilised soil than in soil previously occupied by the same variety, indicating that the impact of pathogenic organisms was dominating. However, this negative effect was strongest in older varieties and declined over time of breeding for biomass and yield. Moreover, when plant growth and yield in soils previously occupied by the same variety were compared to soil previously occupied by another barley variety, the effect of soil organisms ranged from negative for older to positive for newer varieties.
We also found that leaf traits varied with breeding year, whereas root traits responded to soil conditions and previous management type, highlighting plant–microbe interaction-driven effects on belowground traits.
These results indicate that soil organisms play an important role in determining crop growth and yield. Newer varieties seem to be more resistant to pathogens or more efficient at utilising mutualistic interactions, suggesting that alternatives to traditional crop rotation can be effective in supporting sustainable agriculture with new crop varieties.
Keywords
Plant-Soil Interactions, Sustainable Agroecology, Barley
| Are you participating to the "AnaEE Environmental Rising Star Award "? | No |
|---|