The Innovation Team of Plant Nutrition of the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning (IARRP) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), has made significant progress in understanding the assembly mechanism of maize rhizosphere microbial communities. Their related findings have been published under the title "Maize functional requirements drive the selection of rhizobacteria under long‐term fertilization practices" in the journal "New Phytologist" (IF="9.4").

Fertilizers are crucial for food security, but excessive use of chemical fertilizers has led to a series of environmental issues. Therefore, reducing fertilizer use while increasing efficiency is a key issue that urgently needs to be addressed for the high-quality development of agriculture. The rhizosphere of crops is an important interface for nutrient absorption. Effectively regulating the structure and function of crop rhizosphere microbiota can enhance nutrient utilization efficiency, offering an important approach for reducing fertilizer usage while increasing efficiency. However, the assembly strategy of rhizosphere microbial communities under different soil types and nutrient levels remains unclear, limiting their widespread application in agricultural production.

This study evaluated the assembly mechanism and function of maize rhizosphere microbiota under different soil types, fertilization conditions, and maize genotypes. The researchers found that deterministic processes, such as host selection, soil type, and fertilization treatments, collectively shaped the structure and function of the rhizosphere microbial community. Under long-term unfertilized conditions, in order to adapt to nutrient stress environments, maize recruited more rhizosphere microbes involved in carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus cycling, and purine metabolism, especially some key nitrogen-fixing microbes, from the soil. However, these beneficial functions were carried out by different species in different soils, indicating a maize rhizosphere microbial community assembly strategy based on functional requirements. This work provides theoretical support for the targeted manipulation and efficient utilization of rhizosphere microbial communities in agricultural systems.

Figure 1: Metagenomic and qPCR methods validate maize rhizosphere microbial community assembly strategy based on functional requirements

Dr. Zhang Liyu and Researcher Yuan Liang are the joint first authors of the paper, with researchers Ai Chao and Zhang Huimin as the corresponding authors. Academician Zhou Wei participated in guiding this research. The study received funding from the National Key Research and Development Program (2022YFD1900900), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32322076 and 32272817), and other projects.

Paper Link:

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/nph.19653](https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/nph.19653