Fertilizer destroys plant microbiome's ability to protect against disease
Sunday, July 29, 2018 - 08:43
in Biology & Nature
Despite enthusiasm for spraying probiotics on crops to ensure healthy microbiomes, little is known about what a healthy above-ground biome, or phyllosphere, looks like. Recent experiments show that both natural microbiomes and synthetic biomes constructed from normal populations are protective against pathogens, though sometimes low doses work better than high doses. Surprisingly, fertilizing the plant allowed pathogens to multiply on leaves despite a healthy phyllosphere.