The species richness of the Salix viminalis rhizosphere
Manipulating the rhizosphere microbiome to enhance plant stress tolerance is an environmentally friendly technology and a renewable resource to restore degraded environments. We considered the Salicornia europaea rhizosphere and the ability of the phytoremediation plant Salix viminalis to recruit its beneficial microbiome to mediate the pollution stress at the Stebnyk mine tailings storage. The tailings contain large amounts of brine salts and heavy metals that contaminate the groundwater and surrounding areas, changing soil biogeochemistry and causing increased erosion. We performed the 16S rRNA profiling of the V3-V4 region by using Pro341F and Pro805R primer pair, to assess the species richness of the endophytic bacterial community of Salix viminalis roots grown in soils originating from the Stebnyk mine tailings storage. Thirty-six (36) individual cuttings were examined at a gradient of the Stebnyk mine tailing representing three contamination levels. Salix viminalis was grown either in unsupplemented soil samples or in soil samples enriched with slurries from the S. europaea rhizosphere. Our results show that biodiversity was decreased across the contamination zones and that Salicornica europaea supplementation significantly increased the species richness.