The effect of seed tuber tare soil on the potato rhizosphere microbiome

Understanding the factors influencing microbiome composition in the rhizosphere is an important step towards managing the microbiomes of globally important crops like potato. We tested whether potato tare soil (i.e. soil adhering to the tuber surface) on seed tubers influences microbial community composition of the developing rhizosphere using a surface sterilization treatment to remove tare soil from seed tubers compared to a control group. We used ITS and 16S metabarcoding to characterize the fungal and bacterial rhizosphere communities of 300 potato plants grown from the experimental seed tubers.