Integrated microbiology and metabolomics analysis reveal responses of cotton rhizosphere microbiome and metabolic functions to conventional seed coating

Seed dressing with a fungicide-containing seed coating can effectively reduce the occurrence of cotton seedling diseases. With the extensive use of seed coating agent, its pesticide components accumulate in the soil, which is not conducive to the development of human beings and ecological agriculture. In this study, 2.5% fludioxonil (FL) and 11% metalaxyl-M fludioxonil azoxystrobin (MFA) were coated on the surface of cotton seeds. Meanwhile, two soil types in the main cotton producing area of Xinjiang, China were selected, one from Alar (AL) and the other from Shihezi (SH).The objectives of this study were: (1) To evaluate the effects of seed coating agents on the endophytic communities in cotton seeds. (2) To reveal the effects of seed coating agents on rhizosphere soil microbial communities in different types of soils. In this experiment, the seeds were treated with three different kinds of coating agents: CK, FL and MFA. First, a part of seed samples were used to extract total community DNA, and each treatment preparation was repeated 3 times. For pot experiment, rhizosphere soil was collected at 7 days, 21 days and 49 days after planting in two kinds of soil, 3 replicates per treatment. There are 9 seed samples and 54 rhizosphere samples in total.