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Effects of Intercropping and Plant Variety on Root Fungal Community

Hsung, Ming-Hui (Maggie) (2019) Effects of Intercropping and Plant Variety on Root Fungal Community. Masters thesis, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ), CH-Zürich and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, CH-Frick . Master Thesis. . [Completed]

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Summary

Increasing environmental awareness has put new attentions on cereal-legume inter cropping system as a possible way to diversify agricultural fields and to efficiently produce food and feed under increasingly adverse conditions caused by climate change. The choice of mixing partners drives plant functional complementarities. In this context, elucidating the effects of this pairing on the plant-associated microbial community can help to better understand and, thus, optimize intercropping sys tems. This MSc project seeks to understand belowground microbial interactions in intercropping through examining organically-managed cereal-legume on-farm exper iments, including a pea (Pisum sativum L.)-barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) experiment in Switzerland (CH) and a pea-wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) experiment in Hungary (HU). Root fungal communities of different varieties in pure and intercropping systems were investigated based on Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the ITS1 gene. In the Swiss pea-barley experiment, five pea varieties (Alvesta, Karpate, Mytic, Respect, Vitra) each mixed with one barley variety (Atrika) were examined; in the Hungarian wheat-pea experiment, three wheat varieties (Kolompos, Kompozit, Nador) each mixed with one pea variety (Aviron) were examined. Across all varieties, intercropping did not have an effect on alpha fungal diversity. However, there were first indications for variety by cropping system effects on alpha diversity. Fungal richness of roots of particular pea varieties was influenced by the cropping partner either on a species level (CH experiment) or on a genotype level (HU experiment). Pielou’s evenness and Shannon diversity in pea roots were influenced by pea variety. Similarly, the analysis of beta diversity also showed intercropping, across all varieties, did not have an effect on root fungal community, for both experiments. A significant crop variety effect was observed for the CH experiment showing distinct fungal community compositions for the pea varieties Respect, Alvesta and Vitra. This study also identified fungal taxa, including putative pea pathogens and beneficials (e.g. Glomeromycota), associated with certain crop varieties and their change in abundances by intercropping. Lastly, the relation between variety fungal community characteristics and their agronomic traits could provide further insights in understanding this complex plant-plant-microbiome interactions.


EPrint Type:Thesis
Thesis Type:Masters
Keywords:intercropping, mycorrhizae, variety trials, organic agriculture, ReMIX
Agrovoc keywords:
Language
Value
URI
English
intercropping
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_3910
English
mycorrhizae
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_5023
English
variety trials
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_26833
English
organic agriculture
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_15911
Subjects: Soil > Soil quality
Crop husbandry > Crop combinations and interactions
Soil > Soil quality > Soil biology
Research affiliation: Switzerland > ETHZ - Agrarwissenschaften
Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Crops > Anbautechnik > Mixed cropping
Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Crops > Seeds and breeding > Varitey testing
Related Links:https://www.remix-intercrops.eu/
Deposited By: Gutzen, Kaja
ID Code:38578
Deposited On:30 Nov 2020 09:04
Last Modified:06 Sep 2021 11:05
Document Language:English
Status:Unpublished

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