The effectiveness of microbial inoculants in agriculture is often limited by their unstable colonization in dynamic soil environments.
Researchers investigated the impact of application timing and continuity of a four-member synthetic microbial community (SynCom) on pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) productivity and rhizosphere microbiome dynamics under greenhouse conditions. Four treatments were included: no inoculation (control), single inoculation at the seedling stage (T1; 5 days post-emergence), single inoculation at the potting stage (T2; 14 days post-transplant), and sustained inoculation at both stages (T3). T3 significantly enhanced plant dry weight (113.4%), root activity (267.8%), fruit sugar (43.9%), and yield (29.0%) relative to the control; and profoundly reshaped the rhizosphere microbiome, enriching functional pathways for nutrient cycling (e.g., phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium metabolism) and phytohormone synthesis (e.g., indoleacetic acid pathway). Co-occurrence network analysis indicated a significant alteration in microbial interaction patterns, revealing a new community architecture with key taxa such as Neocosmospora, Dyella and the Rhizobium group emerging as central hubs in the T3 network.
The researchers findings underscore that application continuity is a critical factor for optimizing bio-inoculant efficacy, providing a strategy to enhance crop productivity through microbiome engineering in sustainable agriculture.
Xu, J.; Liu, Q.; Huang, Z.; Li, D. Sustained Inoculation of a Synthetic Microbial Community Engineers the Rhizosphere Microbiome for Enhanced Pepper Productivity and Quality. Agronomy 2025, 15, 2888. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15122888
Source: MDPI
