Effect of Bacillus subtilis EA-CB0575 on the microbiota of banana plants

The artificial introduction of microorganisms has been a widely studied practice to modulate the desired plant responses that emerged as an alternative for biocontrol and handling in agriculture. The inoculation of micropropagated plant tissues has been one of the research fields that has shown improvements in different features of the treated plantlets. This research evaluates the effect of in vitro bacterial inoculation on the microbiota of banana plants during their growth stage under greenhouse conditions focusing on plants that showed a reduction in the severity of foliar disease caused by Pseudocercospora fijiensis. The strain B. subtilis EA-CB0575 reduced necrotic area compared to the control, thus this research focused on evaluating the impact of the inoculation of this strain on the root/rhizosphere microbiota 150 dai, where results indicated a differential enrichment of low abundance taxa. Lastly, a comparison of the bacterial community associated with the roots between banana plants in vitro with 9 months of development and 14 months old greenhouse grown plants was carried out, confirming that the development stage significantly influences the conformation of the bacterial profile.