High bacterial diversity and siderophore-producing bacteria collectively suppress Fusarium oxysporum in maize/faba bean intercropping

Beyond interacting with neighboring plants, crop performance is affected by the microbiome that includes pathogens and mutualists. While the importance of plant-plant interactions in explaining overyielding in intercropping is well known, the role of the microbiome, in particular how the presence of microbes from heterospecific crop species inhibit pathogens of the focal plants in affecting yield remains hardly explored. Here we performed both field samplings and pot experiments to investigate the microbial interactions in the maize/faba bean intercropping system, with the focus on the inhibition of