Development of a Pseudomonas-based biocontrol consortium with effective root colonization and extended beneficial side effects for plants under high-temperature stress

Abstract

The root microbiota plays a crucial role in plant performance. The use of microbial consortia is considered a very useful tool for studying microbial interactions in the rhizosphere of different agricultural crop plants. Thus, a consortium of 3 compatible beneficial rhizospheric Pseudomonas strains previously isolated from the avocado rhizosphere, was constructed. The consortium is composed of two compatible biocontrol P. chlororaphis strains (PCL1601 and PCL1606), and the biocontrol rhizobacterium Pseudomonas alcaligenes AVO110, which are all efficient root colonizers of avocado and tomato plants. These three strains were compatible with each other and reached stable levels both in liquid media and on plant roots. Bacterial strains were fluorescent tagged, and colonization-related traits were analyzed in vitro, revealing formation of mixed biofilm networks without exclusion of any of the strains. Additionally, bacterial colonization patterns compatible with the different strains were observed, with high survival traits on avocado and tomato roots. The bacteria composing the consortium shared the same root habitat and exhibited biocontrol activity against soil-borne fungal pathogens at similar levels to those displayed by the individual strains. As expected, because these strains were isolated from avocado roots, this Pseudomonas-based consortium had more stable bacterial counts on avocado roots than on tomato roots; however, inoculation of tomato roots with this consortium was shown to protect tomato plants under high-temperature stress. The results revealed that this consortium has side beneficial effect for tomato plants under high-temperature stress, thus improving the potential performance of the individual strains. We concluded that this rhizobacterial consortium do not improve the plant protection against soil-borne phytopathogenic fungi displayed by the single strains; however, its inoculation can show an specific improvement of plant performance on a horticultural non-host plant (such as tomato) when the plant was challenged by high temperature stress, thus extending the beneficial role of this bacterial consortium.

Keywords: Avocado; Biocontrol; Plant interaction; Plant stresses; Pseudomonas chlororaphis; Rhizobacteria; Root colonization; SynCom.