Abstract
Beyond interacting with neighboring plants, crop performance is affected by the microbiome that includes pathogens and mutualists. While the importance of plant–plant interactions in explaining overyielding in intercropping is well known, the role of the microbiome, in particular how the presence of microbes from heterospecific crop species inhibit pathogens of the focal plants in affecting yield remains hardly explored. Here we performed both field samplings and pot experiments to investigate the microbial interactions in the maize/faba bean intercropping system, with the focus on the inhibition of Fusarium oxysporum in faba bean plants. Long-term field measurements show that maize/faba bean intercropping increased crop yield, reduced the gene copies of F. oxysporum by 30–84% and increased bacterial richness and Shannon index compared to monocropping. Bacterial networks in intercropping were more stable with more hub nodes than the respective monocultures. Furthermore, the observed changes of whole microbial communities were aligned with differences in the number of siderophore-producing rhizobacteria in maize and pathogen abundances in faba bean. Maize possessed 71% more siderophore-producing rhizobacteria and 33% more synthetases genes abundance of nonribosomal peptides, especially pyochelin, relative to faba bean. This was further evidenced by the increased numbers of siderophore-producing bacteria and decreased gene copies of F. oxysporum in the rhizosphere of intercropped faba bean. Four bacteria ( Pseudomonas spp. B004 and B021, Bacillus spp. B005 and B208) from 95 isolates antagonized F. oxysporum f. sp. fabae . In particular, B005, which represented a hub node in the networks, showed particularly high siderophore-producing capabilities. Intercropping increased overall bacterial diversity and network complexity and the abundance of siderophore-producing bacteria, leading to facilitated pathogen suppression and increased resistance of faba bean to F. oxysporum . This study has great agronomic implications as microorganisms might be specifically targeted to optimize intercropping practices in the future.
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Claims 16
Claim · model-written summary
Maize/faba bean intercropping increased crop yield relative to monocropping.
- Taxon
- maize/faba bean
Vicia faba
Zea mayst0 - Treatment
- maize/faba bean intercroppinge0
- Outcome
- crop yielde0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Comparator
- monocroppinge1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“maize/faba bean intercropping increased crop yield, reduced the gene copies of F. oxysporum by 30–84%”
e1“compared to monocropping”
t0“maize/faba bean intercropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Maize/faba bean intercropping reduced the gene copies of F. oxysporum by 30–84% relative to monocropping.
- Taxon
- maize/faba beanVicia fabaZea mayst0
- Treatment
- maize/faba bean intercroppinge0
- Interactor
- F. oxysporum
_(Fusarium_oxysporum_f.sp._batatas)_1234227-PPT-Clemson_University.jpg?width=60)
Fusarium oxysporume0pathogen - Outcome
- gene copies of F. oxysporume0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Value
- 30–84%e0
- Comparator
- monocroppinge1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
_(Fusarium_oxysporum_f.sp._batatas)_1234227-PPT-Clemson_University.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“maize/faba bean intercropping increased crop yield, reduced the gene copies of F. oxysporum by 30–84%”
e1“compared to monocropping”
t0“maize/faba bean intercropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Maize/faba bean intercropping increased bacterial richness and Shannon index relative to monocropping.
- Taxon
- maize/faba beanVicia fabaZea mayst0
- Treatment
- maize/faba bean intercroppinge1
- Outcome
- bacterial richness and Shannon indexe0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Comparator
- monocroppinge0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“increased bacterial richness and Shannon index compared to monocropping”
e1“maize/faba bean intercropping increased crop yield, reduced the gene copies of F. oxysporum by 30–84%”
t0“maize/faba bean intercropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Bacterial networks in maize/faba bean intercropping were more stable than those in the respective monocultures.
- Taxon
- maize/faba beanVicia fabaZea mayst0
- Treatment
- intercroppinge0
- Outcome
- Bacterial networkse0
- Direction
- more stablee0
- Comparator
- the respective monoculturese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Bacterial networks in intercropping were more stable with more hub nodes than the respective monocultures”
t0“maize/faba bean intercropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Bacterial networks in maize/faba bean intercropping had more hub nodes than those in the respective monocultures.
- Taxon
- maize/faba beanVicia fabaZea mayst0
- Treatment
- intercroppinge0
- Outcome
- hub nodese0
- Direction
- moree0
- Comparator
- the respective monoculturese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Bacterial networks in intercropping were more stable with more hub nodes than the respective monocultures”
t0“maize/faba bean intercropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Maize possessed 71% more siderophore-producing rhizobacteria than faba bean.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Maize possessed 71% more siderophore-producing rhizobacteria and 33% more synthetases genes abundance of nonribosomal peptides, especially pyochelin, relative to faba bean”
Claim · model-written summary
Maize possessed 33% more synthetase gene abundance for nonribosomal peptides than faba bean, especially for pyochelin.
- Gene
- synthetasese0
- Outcome
- synthetases genes abundance of nonribosomal peptidese0
- Direction
- moree0
- Value
- 33%e0
- Qualifier
- especially pyocheline0
- Comparator
- faba beane0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Maize possessed 71% more siderophore-producing rhizobacteria and 33% more synthetases genes abundance of nonribosomal peptides, especially pyochelin, relative to faba bean”
Claim · model-written summary
Changes of whole microbial communities were aligned with differences in siderophore-producing rhizobacteria in maize and pathogen abundances in faba bean.
- Taxon
- maize/faba beanVicia fabaZea mayst0
- Interactor
- siderophore-producing rhizobacteriae0other
- Outcome
- changes of whole microbial communitiese0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the observed changes of whole microbial communities were aligned with differences in the number of siderophore-producing rhizobacteria in maize and pathogen abundances in faba bean”
t0“maize/faba bean intercropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Intercropping increased the numbers of siderophore-producing bacteria in the rhizosphere of faba bean.
- Taxon
- faba beanVicia fabae0
- Organ / stage
- rhizospheree0
- Treatment
- intercroppede0
- Outcome
- numbers of siderophore-producing bacteriae0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“This was further evidenced by the increased numbers of siderophore-producing bacteria and decreased gene copies of F. oxysporum in the rhizosphere of intercropped faba bean”
Claim · model-written summary
Intercropping decreased gene copies of F. oxysporum in the rhizosphere of faba bean.
- Taxon
- faba beanVicia fabae0
- Organ / stage
- rhizospheree0
- Treatment
- intercroppede0
- Interactor
- F. oxysporumFusarium oxysporume0pathogen
- Outcome
- gene copies of F. oxysporume0
- Direction
- decreasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“This was further evidenced by the increased numbers of siderophore-producing bacteria and decreased gene copies of F. oxysporum in the rhizosphere of intercropped faba bean”
Claim · model-written summary
Four of 95 bacterial isolates antagonized F. oxysporum f. sp. fabae.
- Taxon
- maize/faba beanVicia fabaZea mayst0
- Interactor
- F. oxysporumFusarium oxysporume0pathogen
- Second interactor
- Pseudomonas spp. B004 and B021, Bacillus spp. B005 and B208e0biocontrol_agent
- Outcome
- antagonized F. oxysporume0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Four bacteria ( Pseudomonas spp. B004 and B021, Bacillus spp. B005 and B208) from 95 isolates antagonized F. oxysporum f. sp. fabae”
t0“maize/faba bean intercropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Bacterium B005 represented a hub node in the bacterial networks.
- Taxon
- maize/faba beanVicia fabaZea mayst0
- Material
- B005e0
- Outcome
- hub node in the networkse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“In particular, B005, which represented a hub node in the networks, showed particularly high siderophore-producing capabilities”
t0“maize/faba bean intercropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Bacterium B005 showed particularly high siderophore-producing capabilities.
- Taxon
- maize/faba beanVicia fabaZea mayst0
- Material
- B005e0
- Outcome
- siderophore-producing capabilitiese0
- Direction
- particularly highe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“In particular, B005, which represented a hub node in the networks, showed particularly high siderophore-producing capabilities”
t0“maize/faba bean intercropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Intercropping increased overall bacterial diversity and network complexity.
- Taxon
- maize/faba beanVicia fabaZea mayst0
- Treatment
- Intercroppinge0
- Outcome
- overall bacterial diversity and network complexitye0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Intercropping increased overall bacterial diversity and network complexity”
t0“maize/faba bean intercropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Intercropping increased the abundance of siderophore-producing bacteria.
- Taxon
- maize/faba beanVicia fabaZea mayst0
- Treatment
- Intercroppinge0
- Outcome
- abundance of siderophore-producing bacteriae0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Intercropping increased overall bacterial diversity and network complexity and the abundance of siderophore-producing bacteria, leading to facilitated pathogen suppression and increased resistance of faba bean to F. oxysporum”
t0“maize/faba bean intercropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Intercropping increased resistance of faba bean to F. oxysporum, which the authors link to facilitated pathogen suppression.
- Taxon
- faba beanVicia fabae0
- Treatment
- Intercroppinge0
- Interactor
- F. oxysporumFusarium oxysporume0pathogen
- Outcome
- resistance of faba bean to F. oxysporume0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Intercropping increased overall bacterial diversity and network complexity and the abundance of siderophore-producing bacteria, leading to facilitated pathogen suppression and increased resistance of faba bean to F. oxysporum”
t0“maize/faba bean intercropping”
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8 of 11 groups shown: named compounds and organisms first, then groups whose results differ (checked claim by claim), then those with positive and negative results, then the smaller groups.
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.