Soil and rhizosphere bacterial/archaeal community of winter wheat under different long-term farming practices grown in undisturbed or root window plots

Root observation windows installed in the field provide a perspective for non-destructive monitoring of root development and rhizosphere processes. However, the highly invasive installation process, requiring cutting of soil profiles, may affect plant-microbe interactions. Using the location of a long-term field experiment, the responses of winter wheat to different intensities of tillage, N-fertilization, and use of fungicides were compared for plants grown along root windows and in undisturbed control plots. Root and shoot growth as well as leaf gene expression were analyzed together with the rhizosphere microbiota (bacterial/archaeal 16S rRNA gene, fungal ITS amplicon). The results suggest only a limited influence on plant performance six weeks after RW installation with plant responses and experimental results comparable to undisturbed controls where tillage and fertilization/fungicide intensity were shown to be the main drivers. These are the 16S rRNA gene sequences from soil and rhizosphere samples of central plots. 16S rRNA gene data from root windows is available under: PRJNA1037063