Reductive soil disinfestation (RSD) is an effective practice to eliminate plant pathogens and improve the soil microbial community. However, little is known about how RSD treatment affects microbial interactions and functions. Previous study has shown that RSD-regulated microbiomes may degenerate after re-planting with former crops, while the effect of planting with different crops is still unclear. Here, the effects of both RSD treatment and succession planting with different crops on microbial community composition, interactions, and functions were investigated. Results showed that RSD treatment improves the soil microbial community, decreases the relative abundance of plant pathogens, and effectively enhances microbial interactions and functions. The microbial network associated with RSD treatment was more complex and connected. The functions of hydrocarbon (C, H), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S) cycling were significantly increased in RSD-treated soil, while the functions of bacterial and fungal plant pathogens were decreased. Furthermore, the bacterial and fungal communities present in the RSD-treated soil, and soil succession planted with different crops, were found to be significantly different compared to untreated soil. In summary, we report that RSD treatment can improve soil quality by regulating the interactions of microbial communities and multifunctionality.

Biosorbents have been extensively studied for heavy metal adsorption due to their advantages of low cost and high efficiency. In the study, the living and non-living biomass of Cupriavidus necator GX_5 previously isolated were evaluated for their adsorption capacity and/or removal efficiency for Cd (II) through batch experiments, SEM and FT-IR investigations. The maximum removal efficiency rates for the live and dead biomass were 60.51% and 78.53%, respectively, at an optimum pH of 6, a dosage of 1 g/L and an initial Cd (II) concentration of 5 mg/L. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model was more suitable for fitting the experimental data, indicating that the rate-limiting step might be chemisorption. The Freundlich isotherm model fit better than the Langmuir isotherm model, implying that the adsorption process of both biosorbents was heterogeneous. FT-IR observation reflected that various functional groups were involved in Cd (II) adsorption: –OH, –NH, C=O, C–O and C–C groups for the living biomass and –OH, –NH, C–H, C = O, C–N and N–H groups for the dead biomass. Our results imply that non-living biosorbents have a higher capacity and stronger strength for absorbing Cd (II) than living biomass. Therefore, we suggest that dead GX_5 is a promising adsorbent and can be used in Cd (II)-contaminated environments.

Reductive soil disinfestation (RSD) is an anaerobic and facultative anaerobic microbial-mediated soil management process. The extent of improvement of diseased soil properties by RSD relative to comparable healthy soil is, however, not well characterized. Importantly, how to promote the colonization efficiency of these facultative anaerobic functional species to ensure soil and plant health remain unknown. Here, Fusarium wilt-diseased soil of Momordica charantia grown under a plastic-shed field (PS-CK) was used to conduct molasses-RSD (MO-RSD) along with Paenibacillus sp. (a model of facultative anaerobic species) (MO_PA-RSD) treatment, and the soil from a nearby open-air paddy field was considered comparable healthy soil (OA-CK). Both RSD treatments significantly improved the properties of PS-CK soil, and the extent of improvement of soil pH, Fusarium oxysporum reduction efficiency (98.36%~99.56%), and microbial community and functional composition were higher than that achieved for OA-CK soil, which indicated that RSD-regulated most soil properties outperformed those of the comparable healthy soil. The disease incidence and ascorbic acid content of M. charantia in MO-RSD- and MO_PA-RSD-treated soils were considerably decreased, while the weight and soluble protein contents were correspondingly increased, as compared to those of M. charantia in PS-CK soil. Specifically, the changes in these physiological properties of M. charantia in MO_PA-RSD soil performed well than that in MO-RSD soil. The relative abundances of Cohnella, Effusibacillus, Rummeliibacillus, Oxobacter, Thermicanus, and Penicillium enriched in both RSD-treated soils were positively correlated with Paenibacillus and negatively correlated with F. oxysporum population and disease incidence (P < 0.05). Notably, the relative abundances of these potential probiotics were considerably higher in MO_PA-RSD-treated soil than in MO-RSD alone-treated soil. These results show that the RSD process with inoculation of Paenibacillus sp. could promote the colonization of this species and simultaneously stimulate the proliferation of other probiotic consortia to further enhance soil health and plant disease resistance.

Red paddy soil is widely distributed in the south of China and has become an important production system for food and cash crops. However, the key factors limiting the quality of this soil type under the plastic shed cultivation system and the effective management strategies are still unclear. In the present study, the physicochemical and microbial properties of red paddy soil in a plastic shed (PS-Soil) and open-air (OA-Soil) cultivation systems were compared. Subsequently, reductive soil disinfestation (RSD) and organic fertilizer treatment (OF) were used to improve the soil properties in a representative PS-Soil. Results showed that the physicochemical and microbial properties in PS-Soil were significantly altered compared with those in the nearby OA-Soil, and those differences were primarily dominated by the cultivation system rather than the sampling site. Specifically, the electrical conductivity (EC) and available nutrients (NO₃⁻-N, NH₄⁺-N, available K, and available P) contents, as well as the abundances of fungi, potential fungal soil-borne pathogens (F. oxysporum and F. solani), and fungi/bacteria were significantly increased in PS-Soil. In addition, the OF treatment could not effectively improve the above-mentioned soil properties, which was mainly reflected by that soil EC and the abundances of potential fungal soil-borne pathogens were considerably increased in the OF-treated soil. In contrast, soil EC and NO₃⁻-N content, the abundances of fungi, F. oxysporum, F. solani, and fungi/bacteria were remarkably decreased by 76%, 99%, 98%, 92%, 73%, and 85%, respectively. Moreover, soil pH, the abundance of bacteria, total microbial activity, metabolic activity, and carbon source utilization were significantly increased in the RSD-treated soil. Collectively, red paddy soil is significantly degraded under the plastic shed cultivation system, and RSD rather than OF can effectively improve the quality of this soil type.

Reductive soil disinfestation (RSD) and chemical soil fumigation (CSF) comprise the most popular pre-planting soil management strategies. Their efficiency in suppressing several plant diseases in agricultural production systems has been compared. However, the disease-control effect of these methods on Fusarium wilt disease in Dioscorea batatas Decne (D. batatas) remains unclear. Importantly, dissimilarities in the impact of their bio-predictors on plant health have not been well characterized. Herein, four treatments, including no treatment (CK), RSD with gran chaff (GC-RSD) and molasses (MO-RSD), and CSF with dazomet (DA-CSF), were performed in a pot experiment using D. batatas-diseased soil. Compared with the CK treatment, the Fusarium oxysporum population significantly decreased by 88.89–97.78% following the DA-CSF, GC-RSD, and MO-RSD treatments. The bacterial community and functional composition of the soil were considerably altered by these treatments. However, the incidence of Fusarium wilt disease in D. batatas was significantly decreased in the two RSD-treated soils, rather than in DA-CSF-treated soils. Bacterial α-diversity and population as well as some key nitrogen-related functional gene expressions as bio-predictors were significantly lower in DA-CSF-treated soil than in RSD-treated soil. In particular, the core (e.g., Azotobacter, Phenylobacterium, Clostridium, Bradyrhizobium, Microvirga, and Caulobacter) and unique (e.g., Pseudomonas, Brevundimonas, Flavobacterium, Ochrobactrum, and Sphingobacterium) functional microbiomes in RSD-treated soil exerted a positive impact on soil functional composition of the soil and plant growth. Taken together, our results indicate that RSD outperformed CSF in promoting plant health by regulating the bacterial community and functional composition.

MYB transcription factors (TFs) have been shown to play a key role in plant growth and development and are in response to various types of biotic and abiotic stress. Here, we clarified the structure, expression patterns, and function of a MYB TF, SlMYB86-like (Solyc06g071690) in tomato using an inbred tomato line exhibiting high resistance to bacterial wilt (Hm 2-2 (R)) and one susceptible line (BY 1-2 (S)). The full-length cDNA sequence of this gene was 1226 bp, and the open reading frame was 966 bp, which encoded 321 amino acids; its relative molecular weight was 37.05055 kDa; its theoretical isoelectric point was 7.22; it was a hydrophilic nonsecreted protein; and it had no transmembrane structures. The protein also contains a highly conserved MYB DNA-binding domain and was predicted to be localized to the nucleus. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that SlMYB86-like is closely related to SpMYB86-like in Solanum pennellii and clustered with other members of the family Solanaceae. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis revealed that the expression of the SlMYB86-like gene was tissue specific and could be induced by Ralstonia solanacearum, salicylic acid, and jasmonic acid. The results of virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) revealed that SlMYB86-like silencing decreased the resistance of tomato plants to bacterial wilt, suggesting that it positively regulates the resistance of tomatoes to bacterial wilt. Overall, these findings indicate that SlMYB86-like plays a key role in regulating the resistance of tomatoes to bacterial wilt.