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ABSTRACT
Background
Beneficial bacteria-plant interactions play an important role in agriculture, positively affecting plant status and improving product quality. Bacterial endophytes contribute to host plant protection and survival.
Aim
This study characterised the bacterial communities present in soil, leaf surface and xylem sap of olive trees, and investigated their response under a sustainable (Smng) or a conventional (Cmng) management system in an olive grove located in southern Italy. The aims are: (a) to understand if soil bacteria enter xylem and reach leaves and (b) to verify if the bacterial communities in the two management systems deeply differ due to the different agronomic practices applied in Smng and in Cmng.
Methods
Therefore, a metagenomic approach was used to detect microorganisms, in order to estimate bacterial diversity and abundance, and to identify the bacterial taxa in the three analysed compartments in plants subjected to Smng and Cmng systems.
Results
Bacterial communities came from the soil and reached aerial plant parts through xylem sap. The application of different agronomic practices influenced the composition of soil bacterial communities.
Conclusions
The potential benefits of the specific bacterial taxa detected under the Smng system could improve plant growth protection and provide a higher crop quality in fruit plants.
Acknowledgements
The paper has been written with thecontribution of the Italian Regional Project GE.S.Oliv and the project LIFE 14 CCA/GR/000389 AgroClimaWater. We are thankful to Angelo Mossuto and Silvia Pascazio for their help in soil and leaves sampling, in xylem sap extraction and laboratory analysis. We are also thankful to Slobodanka Radovic for her assistance in bioinformatics analysis and Dr Andrea Capogrossi for his technical support.
Conflict of interest
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Supplemental data
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Catia Fausto
Catia Fausto is a Ph.D. student whose research interest is focused on effects of different management types of olive groves on the spread of Xylella fastidiosa in Salento.
Alba N. Mininni
Alba N. Mininni ’s research focuses on soil and plant microbiome, fruit quality and orchard management practices aimed at mitigating climate change.
Adriano Sofo
Adriano Sofo is an associate professor. His research fields include biochemistry and physiology of plants under abiotic stress conditions; soil chemistry/microbiology and soil sustainable management; food quality and plant secondary metabolites.
Carmine Crecchio
Carmine Crecchio is an associate professor. He is involved in the characterisation of bacterial communities in soils under different managements and in the isolation plant growth promoting bacteria.
Marina Scagliola
Marina Scagliola ’s research focuses on soil-plant microbiome interactions that are essential to preserve the biological balance in soil.
Bartolomeo Dichio
Bartolomeo Dichio is a professor. His research fields include plant ecophysiology under abiotic stress, water relations in plants and hydraulic conductivity, irrigation and mineral nutrition in fruit orchard.
Cristos Xiloyannis
Cristos Xiloyannis is a professor. His research interests include plant ecophysiology under abiotic stress, CO2 sequestration and carbon budget, soil fertility restoration, sustainable orchard management.