Microbial Community Structure in Disease-Suppressive Soils as Revealed by Metabarcoding

Plant diseases caused by soil-borne bacterial pathogens result in significant yield losses and these pathogens are the most difficult to control due to their persistence in debris and soil. Enhancement of soil-natural disease suppression could be an effective option to control these diseases through soil management practices. The suppression of soil-borne diseases of soil microbial bacteria and fungi communities was analyzed in soils suppressive and non-suppressive for Moko disease caused by Ralstonia solanacearum in Quindío, Colombia, using bacterial tag-encoded FLX titanium amplicon pyrosequencing (bTEFAP) targeting 16Sr RNA and ITS genes.