Soil selenium enhanced the resistance of oilseed rape to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum by optimizing the plant microbiome

Summary Plant can recruit beneficial microbes to enhance their ability to resist disease. Selenium is well established as a beneficial element in plant growth, but its role in mediating microbial disease resistance remained poorly understood. Here, we investigated the correlation between selenium, oilseed rape rhizosphere microbes and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Soil application of 0.5 and 1.0 mg/kg selenium significantly increased the resistance of oilseed rape to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum compared with no selenium application, and the disease inhibition rate was higher than 20%. The disease resistance of oilseed rape was related to rhizosphere microorganisms, and beneficial bacteria isolated from the rhizosphere inhibited Sclerotinia stem rot. Burkholderia cepacia, and synthetic community enhanced plant disease resistance through transcriptional regulation and activated plant-induced systemic resistance to protect plants. Besides, inoculation of isolated bacteria optimized the bacterial community structure of leaves and enriched beneficial microorganisms such as Bacillus, Pseudomonas and Sphingomonas. Bacillus isolated from the leaves were sprayed on the detached leaves, and it also performed a significant inhibition effect on Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Overall, our results suggested that selenium drive plant rhizosphere microorganisms to increase resistance to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in oilseed rape.