Microbiome management by biological and chemical treatments in maize is linked to plant health

The targeted application of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) provides the key for a future sustainable agriculture with reduced pesticide application. PGPR interaction with the indigenous microbiota is less understood but essential to develop reliable applications. Therefore, Stenotrophomonas rhizophila SPA-P69 was applied as seed coating and in combination with the fungicide MAXIM® XL. Plant performance and rhizosphere composition of treated and non-treated maize plants of two field trials were analyzed. Plant health was significantly increased by treatment; however overall corn yield was not changed. By applying high-throughput amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA and the ITS genes, the bacterial and fungal changes in the rhizosphere due to different treatments were determined