Rhizosphere microbial diversity and community dynamics during potato cultivation

In order to understand the dynamic changes of in the rhizosphere microbiome during potato cultivation, we studied the rhizosphere microbial diversity and soil physical-chemical properties during the growth of potato plants in soil that had been under continuous cultivation for five years. The V3–V4 region from chromosomal prokaryotic 16S rRNA and the fungal ITS1-ITS2 region were sequenced by Illumina MiSeq technology. Both the bacterial and fungal communities were clearly different at the seedling stage compared with the first stage of potato pre-planting, and it stabilized at the flowering stage and then experienced relatively small changes until the potato crop matured. The relative abundance of Acidobacteria and Saccharibacteria in the bacterial community increased (p < 0.05) at the harvesting stage compared with the planting stage. At the seedling stage, the abundance of Bacteroidetes increased (p < 0.05), and that of Chloroflexi significantly decreased (p < 0.05). In the fungal community, the abundance of Ascomycota increased (p < 0.05) at the seedling stage, while the abundance of Basidiomycota decreased (p < 0.05). Soil pH and soil electrical conductivity declined over the course of potato cultivation, and the total salt levels decreased. Soil enzyme activities also differed at each potato growth stage. The growth and development period of potato was the main factor affecting the composition of rhizosphere microbial communities.