Soil and rhizosphere bacterial/archaeal community of winter wheat under different long-term farming practices

It is not yet well understood, how farming practices affect the rhizosphere microbiome, plant-microbe interactions and crop performance under field conditions. Therefore, we installed root observation windows in a winter wheat field cultivated either under long-term plough (MP) or cultivator tillage (CT). Each farming practice was also compared at two fertilization levels, intensive or extensive (50% reduced N-supply, no fungicides/growth regulators). Crop growth, root exudates, leaf metabolites and gene expression were analyzed together with the rhizosphere microbiome (bacterial/archaeal 16S rRNA gene, fungal ITS amplicon and shotgun metagenome sequencing). This study shows that tillage type was a major driver of crop performance, root deposits and rhizosphere microbiome interactions, while the fertilization level was also relevant, but less important.