title: Mineral and organic growing media have distinct community structure, stability and functionality in soilless culture systems.
abstract: The choice of soilless growing medium for plant nutrition, growth and support is crucial for improving the eco-sustainability of the production in horticultural systems. As our current understanding of the functional microbial communities inhabiting this ecosystem is still limited, we examined the microbial community development of the two most important growing media (organic and mineral) used in open soilless horticultural systems. We aimed to identify factors that influence community composition over time, and to compare the distribution of individual taxa across growing media, and their potential functionality. High throughput sequencing analysis revealed a distinctive and stable microbial community in the organic growing medium. Humidity, pH, nitrate-N, ammonium-N and conductivity were uncovered as the main factors associated with the resident bacterial communities. Ammonium-N was correlated with Rhizobiaceae abundance, while potential competitive interactions among both Methylophilaceae and Actinobacteridae with Rhizobiaceae were suggested. Our results revealed that soilless growing media are unique niches for diverse bacterial communities with temporal functional stability, which may possibly impact the resistance to external forces. These differences in communities can be used to develop strategies to move towards a sustainable horticulture with increased productivity and quality.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.|Peltracom NV, Skaldenstraat 7a, B-9042 Ghent-Desteldonk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Grunert
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Sanabria
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ramiro
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vilchez-Vargas
authors.affiliation: Microbial Interactions and Processes Research Group, Department of Molecular Infection Biology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inhoffenstraße 7, D-38124, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Ruy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jauregui
authors.affiliation: Microbial Interactions and Processes Research Group, Department of Molecular Infection Biology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inhoffenstraße 7, D-38124, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Dietmar H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Pieper
authors.affiliation: Peltracom NV, Skaldenstraat 7a, B-9042 Ghent-Desteldonk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Maaike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perneel
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Production, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marie-Christine
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Van Labeke
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Production, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reheul
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Boon
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry*; D004777:Environment; D064307:Microbiota; D008903:Minerals; D063245:Plant Development; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D008903:Minerals