Data from: Root-exuded benzoxazinoids can alleviate negative plant-soil feedbacks

Plants can suppress the growth of other plants by modifying soil
properties. These negative plant-soil feedbacks are often
species-specific, suggesting that some plants possess resistance
strategies. However, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown.
Here, we investigated if and how benzoxazinoids, a class of dominant
secondary metabolites that are exuded into the soil by maize and other
cereals, influence plant-soil feedbacks. We find that three out of five
tested crop species suppress maize (Zea mays) performance via negative
plant-soil feedbacks relative to the mean across species. This effect is
partially alleviated by the capacity of maize plants to produce
benzoxazinoids. Soil complementation with purified benzoxazinoids is
sufficient to restore the protective effect for benzoxazinoid-deficient
mutants. Sterilization and re-inoculation experiments suggest that
benzoxazinoid-mediated protection acts via changes in soil biota.
Substantial variation of the protective effect between experiments and
soil types illustrates that its magnitude is context-dependent. In
summary, our study demonstrates that plant secondary metabolites can
confer resistance to negative plant-soil feedbacks. These findings expand
the functional repertoire of plant secondary metabolites and reveal a
mechanism by which plants can resist negative soil feedbacks. The
uncovered phenomenon may represent a promising avenue to stabilize plant
performance in crop rotations in the future.