Microbiome management by biological and chemical treatments in maize is linked to plant health. Microbiome management by biological and chemical treatments in maize is linked to plant health

The targeted application of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) provides the key for a future sustainable agriculture with reduced pesticide application. PGPR interaction with the indigenous microbiota is less understood but essential to develop reliable applications. Therefore, Stenotrophomonas rhizophila SPA-P69 was applied as seed coating and in combination with the fungicide MAXIM® XL. Plant performance and rhizosphere composition of treated and non-treated maize plants of two field trials were analyzed. Plant health was significantly increased by treatment; however overall corn yield was not changed. By applying high-throughput amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA and the ITS genes, the bacterial and fungal changes in the rhizosphere due to different treatments were determined