Radial oxygen loss (ROL) has been suggested to be a major process to protect plants exposed to the anaerobic by-products of soil anaerobiosis. The aim of the present study was to test the effects of root ROL from two submerged plants (Hydrilla verticillata and Vallisneria spiralis) on the rhizosphere oxygen profile and rhizosphere microarea. Phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) of sediment samples ...

− Nutrient acquisition by plants occurs in an environment characterized by complex interactions between roots, micro-organisms and animals, termed the rhizosphere. Competition for mineral elements in this sphere is high. The rhizosphere processes are driven by photosynthetically fixed carbon released by roots either directly to mycorrhizal fungal symbionts or as exudates fuelling a wider spectr...

Knowledge on the factors that determine the composition of bacterial communities in the vicinity of roots (rhizosphere) is essential to understand plant-soil interactions. Plant species identity, plant growth stage and soil properties have been indicated as major determinants of rhizosphere bacterial community composition. Here we show that the presence of saprotrophic fungi can be an additiona...

The rhizosphere, the soil fraction closely associated with plant roots, consists of a complex environment conditioned by plant exudates and abiotic conditions. This zone is rich in microbial activity which takes part in biological and ecological processes important for plant health. As a result, many studies dealing with the rhizosphere focus on microbial ecology and physiology and more specifi...

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of a rooted macrophyte Elodea nuttallii on rhizosphere bacterial communities in Hg contaminated sediments. Specimens of E. nuttallii were exposed to sediments from the Hg contaminated Babeni reservoir (Olt River, Romania) in our microcosm. Plants were allowed to grow for two months until they occupied the entirety of the sediments. Total Hg a...

Sustainable management of crop productivity and health necessitates improved understanding of the ways in which rhizosphere microbial populations interact with each other, with plant roots and their abiotic environment. In this study we examined the effects of different soils and cultivars, and the presence of a soil-borne fungal pathogen, Verticillium dahliae, on the fungal microbiome of the r...

The hypothesis that sweet potato genotypes containing different starch yields in their tuberous roots can affect the bacterial communities present in the rhizosphere (soil adhering to tubers) was tested in this study. Tuberous roots of field-grown sweet potato of genotypes IPB-149 (commercial genotype), IPB-052, and IPB-137 were sampled three and six months after planting and analyzed by denatu...

Cultivable bacterial strains associated with field-grown Brassica napus L. (soil, rhizosphere and roots) from a trace elements (Cd, Zn and Pb) contaminated field and a non-contaminated control field were characterized genotypically and phenotypically. Correspondence analysis of the genotypic data revealed a correlation between soil and rhizosphere communities isolated from the same field, indic...

In this study, a pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of phosphate (PO4 (3-)) addition on iron (Fe) cycling in mangrove ecosystem. Kandelia obovata (S. L.), one of the dominant mangrove species in the southeast of China, was cultivated in rhizoboxes under three different levels of P concentrations. Results showed the solid-phase Fe distribution and Fe(II)/Fe(III) values in both t...

Millions of microbial taxa inhabit the rhizosphere and could be used as biofertilizers, biopesticides, and/or for bioremediation. Only a fraction of these microbes have been described and/or are being utilized. Most are dispersed in collections, but coordination of their accessibility and availability is challenging. Here, we present the Pan-European Rhizosphere Resource Network (PERN), which i...