RHIZOSPHERE MICROBIOME DIVERSITY POTENTIALLY SUPPORTS ROBUST NATURE OF FIELD PENNYCRESS (THLASPI ARVENSE L.) IN DRYLAND CROPPING SYSTEMS OF EASTERN WASHINGTON

Field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) is an emerging oilseed cash and intermediate crop. The microbiome of plants is an emerging avenue to improve the stress robustness of crops. However, the microbiome of pennycress is poorly explored. This research was undertaken to fill that knowledge gap and identify microbial symbioses in pennycress. This was accomplished by cultivating pennycress at three sites across Eastern Washington and examining microbial amplicon libraries in conjunction with precipitation and aboveground plant data. This revealed several microbial taxa correlated to maintained biomass of pennycress. This demonstrates the ability of microbes to improve pennycress robustness. This data includes accessions, species of origin, and location of origin of each sample in the above publication. Also included is temperature and precipitation data and lab collected root exudate analysis.