Articles
Effect of water content on melon seedling growth and shift in root bacterial and fungal structures
Article number
1411_36
Pages
355 – 364
Language
English
Abstract
Melon is not only an annual herbaceous plant but also an important economic crop around the world.
China is one of the largest countries for melon production.
Thick-skinned melons have strong disease resistance, good appearance and internal quality, high and stable yield, and long storage time, but melon seedlings are affected by soil salinity and constrained by various types of stress, such as water stress.
Moisture content is one of the important environmental factors in the breeding of melon seedlings.
This study aims to explore strategies that improve the stress resistance of melon seedlings and ensure their normal growth under adverse conditions, such as water stress.
The effect of water content on the growth of melon seedlings was investigated, and changes in microbial communities in the root soil of melon seedlings were analyzed through high-throughput sequencing.
Melon seeds are sown in substrates with 35 and 60% moisture content, and the substrates were regularly sampled for sequencing analysis.
Substrate soil DNA was extracted, and bacterial v4-v5 16S rRNA and fungal internal transcribed spacer gene region were pyrosequenced for the analysis of microbial communities.
Results showed that water content did not significantly affect the growth of melon seedlings at an early stage.
Bacterial groups, such as Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Betaproteobacteria, were enriched under different treatments, and the abundances of Actinobacteria and Gemmatimonadetes increased in melon seedling substrate soil.
The predominant fungal phylum was Ascomycota and Basidiomycota in all treatments.
Our results suggest that bacteria and fungi in substrate soils responded differently to water content.
This study provides new insights into the improvement of melon plant growth in breeding seedling production under different moisture contents.
China is one of the largest countries for melon production.
Thick-skinned melons have strong disease resistance, good appearance and internal quality, high and stable yield, and long storage time, but melon seedlings are affected by soil salinity and constrained by various types of stress, such as water stress.
Moisture content is one of the important environmental factors in the breeding of melon seedlings.
This study aims to explore strategies that improve the stress resistance of melon seedlings and ensure their normal growth under adverse conditions, such as water stress.
The effect of water content on the growth of melon seedlings was investigated, and changes in microbial communities in the root soil of melon seedlings were analyzed through high-throughput sequencing.
Melon seeds are sown in substrates with 35 and 60% moisture content, and the substrates were regularly sampled for sequencing analysis.
Substrate soil DNA was extracted, and bacterial v4-v5 16S rRNA and fungal internal transcribed spacer gene region were pyrosequenced for the analysis of microbial communities.
Results showed that water content did not significantly affect the growth of melon seedlings at an early stage.
Bacterial groups, such as Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Betaproteobacteria, were enriched under different treatments, and the abundances of Actinobacteria and Gemmatimonadetes increased in melon seedling substrate soil.
The predominant fungal phylum was Ascomycota and Basidiomycota in all treatments.
Our results suggest that bacteria and fungi in substrate soils responded differently to water content.
This study provides new insights into the improvement of melon plant growth in breeding seedling production under different moisture contents.
Publication
Authors
Zhen Tao, Jian Zhang, Hongmei Tian, Pengcheng Wang
Keywords
bacterial group, Cucurbita crop, moisture content, melon plant, root development
Groups involved
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