Rhizosphere microbial diversity in rhizosphere of intercropped with maize.

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Dry tubers of (Thunb.) Breit are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Commonly known as "banxia" in China, the tubers contain valuable compounds, including alkaloids and polysaccharides that are widely used in pharmaceuticals. The quantity and quality of these important compounds are affected by whether is grown as a sole crop or as an intercrop, and cultivation has become challenging in recent years. By intercropping , its maximum yield, as well as large numbers of chemical components, can be realized. Here, a large data set derived from next-generation sequencing was used to compare changes in the bacterial communities in rhizosphere soils of and maize grown as sole crops and as intercrops. The overall microbial population in the rhizosphere of intercropped was significantly larger than that of sole-cropped , whereas the numbers of distinct microbial genera, ranging from 552 to 559 among treatments, were not significantly different between the two rhizospheres. The relative abundances of the genera differed. Specifically, the numbers of and species were significantly greater, and those of were significantly lower, in the intercropped rhizosphere than in the sole-cropped rhizosphere.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-021-03011-3.