How does fertilization impact the wild blueberry microbiome ?
Wild blueberry plants are known to depend on their microbiome to overcome the lack of nutrient availability in the soil and their symbiosis with ericoid mycorrhizal fungi is thought to be crucial in that regard. As fertilization can alter crop microbial communities, our study aimed to measure the impact of this practice in a wild blueberry setting, focusing on the bacterial and fungal communities found in the roots and rhizosphere of V. angustifolium Ait., both at the time of application and more than year later during the harvest season. Our study indicates that fertilization, whether mineral or organic, has a minimal effect on microbial communities. One year after application, fertilization does not seem to have a negative repercussion on the ericoid mycorrhizal (ErM) fungal community as no significant differences were observed in terms of relative abundance on known and putative ErM taxa between the control and the two fertilizer treatments.