Effect of Rhizobacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustrisInoculation on Stevia rebaudianaPlant Growth and Soil Microbial Community

There is an increasing concern that the continuous use of chemical fertilizers might lead to harmful effects on soil ecosystem. Accordingly, a biocompatible approach involving inoculation of beneficial microorganisms is presented to promote plant growth and simultaneously minimize the negative effect of chemical fertilizers. In this study, Rhodopseudomonas palustris, a plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium (PGPR), was inoculated into both fertilized and unfertilized soils to assess its influence on Stevia rebaudianaplant growth and microbial community in rhizosphere soils in a 122-d field experiment. Soil enzyme assays (dehydrogenase, urease, invertase, and phosphomonoesterase), real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and a high-throughput sequencing technique were employed to determine the microbial activity and characterize the bacterial community. Results showed that the R. palustrisinoculation did not significantly influence Steviayields and root biomass in either the fertilized or unfertilized soil. Chemical fertilization had strong negative effects on soil bacterial community properties, especially on dehydrogenase and urease activities. However, R. palustrisinoculation counteracted the effect of chemical fertilizer on dehydrogenase and urease activities, and increased the abundances of some bacterial lineages (including Bacteroidia, Nitrospirae, Planctomycetacia, Myxococcales, and Legionellales). In contrast, inoculation into the unfertilized soil did not significantly change the soil enzyme activities or the soil bacterial community structure. For both the fertilized and unfertilized soils, R. palustrisinoculation decreased the relative abundances of some bacterial lineages possessing photosynthetic ability, such as Cyanobacteria, Rhodobacter, Sphingomonadales, and Burkholderiales. Taken together, our observations stress the potential utilization of R. palustrisas PGPR in agriculture, which might further ameliorate the soil microbial properties in the long run.