College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Nutrient Use and Management (SKL-NUM), National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University, 100193, Beijing, China.
Jiangsu Key Laboratory for the Research and Utilization of Plant Resources, Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Eco-cultivation and High-value Utilization of Chinese Medicinal Materials, Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, 210014, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Nat Commun. 2024 Jan 29;15(1):839. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45207-0.
Intercropping has the potential to improve plant nutrition as well as crop yield. However, the exact mechanism promoting improved nutrient acquisition and the role the rhizosphere microbiome may play in this process remains poorly understood. Here, we use a peanut/maize intercropping system to investigate the role of root-associated microbiota in iron nutrition in these crops, combining microbiome profiling, strain and substance isolation and functional validation. We find that intercropping increases iron nutrition in peanut but not in maize plants and that the microbiota composition changes and converges between the two plants tested in intercropping experiments. We identify a Pseudomonas secreted siderophore, pyoverdine, that improves iron nutrition in glasshouse and field experiments. Our results suggest that the presence of siderophore-secreting Pseudomonas in peanut and maize intercropped plays an important role in iron nutrition. These findings could be used to envision future intercropping practices aiming to improve plant nutrition.
间作对改善植物营养和作物产量具有潜在作用。然而，促进养分吸收的具体机制以及根际微生物组在这一过程中可能发挥的作用仍知之甚少。在这里，我们使用花生/玉米间作系统来研究根相关微生物组在这些作物铁营养中的作用，结合微生物组分析、菌株和物质分离以及功能验证。我们发现间作增加了花生中的铁营养，但对玉米植物没有影响，并且在间作实验中两种被测试植物的微生物组组成发生了变化并趋同。我们鉴定出一种假单胞菌分泌的铁载体，即绿脓菌素，它可以改善温室和田间试验中的铁营养。我们的研究结果表明，在间作的花生和玉米中存在分泌铁载体的假单胞菌，这对铁营养起着重要作用。这些发现可以用于设想未来旨在改善植物营养的间作实践。
