Rhizosphere bacterial and fungal communities of healthy and wilted pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in an organic farming system

ABSTRACT: Rhizosphere microorganisms play an important role in the growth and health of plants. Around the world, diverse soil-borne pathogens attack Capsicum annuum causing significant damage and economic losses. This study determined whether the diversity and composition of microbial communities in the rhizosphere soil of C. annuum plants is significantly changed by wilt disease. We used the 16S rRNA gene for bacteria and the internal transcribed spacer region for fungi to characterize the rhizosphere microbiomes of healthy and wilted plants. The most abundant bacterial phyla were Proteobacteria and Gemmatimonadetes, while the most abundant fungal phyla were Ascomycota and Mucoromycota. The bacterial α-diversity did not show significant differences in richness and diversity, but did show a significant difference in evenness and dominance of species. Rare taxa were present in both healthy and wilted conditions with relative abundances