Preceding species effects on maize and soybean seedling rhizosphere microbiomes

A greenhouse study tested the effect of previous crop identity on subsequent crop seedling rhizosphere microbiome with a conditioning-response design. The treatments included maize, soybean, pea, and sunflower preceding maize seedlings and spring wheat, soybean, and maize preceding soybean seedlings. Rhizosphere microbiomes were characterized with the 16S rRNA gene (V3V4) and ITS1 with Illumina sequencing.