Impacts of oak mulch amendments on rhizosphere microbiome of sweet orange trees grown in Florida flatwood soils

The rhizosphere community composition has been shown to provide benefits in nutrient acqui-sition and plant health. Furthermore, rhizosphere communities can be heavily influenced by soil amendments in citrus production systems, providing benefits in soil health, plant physiology, and distribution of roots. Little is known regarding the influence of oak mulch on the rhizosphere microbial communities of Huanglongbing (HLB, citrus greening)-affected sweet orange. Under-standing how HLB-affected sweet orange roots and the rhizosphere microbiome are influenced by oak mulch can potentially lead to improved management practices. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effects of oak mulch on HLB-affected sweet orange rhizosphere health.