Impact of seed treatments on bacterial and fungal Community structure in an on-farm field trial

In this three-year on-farm field study, we compared the effects of chemical and alternative seed treatments on agronomic performance (yield, protein content, thousand grain weight, and micronutrient levels) and on seed- and soil-associated microbial communities. Certified seed material was used to minimize initial pathogen loads. Bacterial and fungal community structures were analyzed by amplicon sequencing (16S rRNA gene and ITS regions), and diversity metrics (alpha and beta diversity) were calculated.