Soil Microbiome Profiling and Differential Taxonomic Analysis between High Yield and Low Yield Soybean Fields
H. CHANG (1), J. Haudenshield (2), C. Bowen (2), G. Hartman (3) (1) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Crop Sciences, U.S.A.; (2) USDA-ARS, U.S.A.; (3) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Crop Sciences; USDA-ARS, U.S.A.

Abiotic and biotic factors have profound impact on crop yields. Part of the biotic factors includes the soil microbiome that may influence yield through plant-microbe interactions. In this project, a shotgun metagenomic approach was applied to profile and compare soil microbiomes between samples collected from soybean fields with a history of high and low yields at six locations in Illinois. Principal coordinate analysis indicated the soil microbiome was highly correlated with soil pH followed by yield performance among 23 characteristics quantified. Differential taxonomic analysis by DESeq2 and edgeR suggested two phyla, Planctomycetes and Streptophyta, had higher abundance in the low yield samples than the high yield samples. Species of bacteria belonging to the genus Planctomycetes oxidize ammonia into nitrogen under anaerobic conditions. On the other hand, members of Streptophyta, an unclassified clade of plants, are composed mainly of green algae. According to the MG-RAST classification using M5NR database, two orders (Asterales and Gentianales) and one family (Bromeliaceae) that belong to the phylum Streptophyta were also significant. However, the two orders and the family were re-classified to the phylum of Magnoliophyta based on the taxonomic system of BOLDSYSTEMS. Advanced analyses using different classification systems and databases are required to confirm the significance. Our study indicated that higher abundance of Planctomycetes and Streptophyta were associated with lower soybean yields in Illinois based on M5NR database.   

Abstract Number: P3-67
Session Type: Poster