Plant defence inducers rapidly influence the diversity of bacterial communities in a potting mix

Plant hormones and their functional analogues are used in agriculture to combat plant diseases and pests. These chemicals are generally targeted at shoots, but soils inevitably receive a dose during application. In this study, we used 16S rRNA gene amplicon pyrosequencing to determine whether the diversity of bacterial communities in a potting mix (referred here as 'model soil') is influenced by exposure to salicylic acid (SA), methyl jasmonate (MeJA), ethylene (ET) and abscisic acid (ABA). The number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs; richness) and Simpson's Diversity Index values (evenness) associated with each sample was not influenced by the hormone treatments, but changes in community composition were observed. Relative to the control, all hormones more than doubled the abundance of a Limnobacter population, ABA led to a four-fold increase in a Cellvibrio population, ET led to a c. 70% decrease in an Algoriphagus population, and MeJA and ABA applications halved the abundance of a Massilia population. These changes may influence plant productivity. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.