Bacterial Microbiome and Nematode Occurrence in Different Potato Agricultural Soils

Pratylenchus neglectus and Meloidogyne chitwoodi are the main plant-parasitic nematodes in potato crops of the San Luis Valley, Colorado. Bacterial microbiome (16S rRNA copies per gram of soil) and nematode communities (nematodes per 200 g of soil) from five different potato farms were analyzed to determine negative and positive correlations between any bacterial genus and P. neglectus and M. chitwoodi. Farms showed differences in bacterial communities, percentage of bacterivorous and fungivorous nematodes, and numbers of P. neglectus and M. chitwoodi. The farm with the lowest population of P. neglectus and M. chitwoodi had higher abundances of the bacterial genera Bacillus spp., Arthrobacter spp., and Lysobacter spp., and the soil nematode community was composed of more than 30% of fungivorous nematodes. In contrast, the farm with higher numbers of P. neglectus and M. chitwoodi had a lower abundance of the abovementioned bacterial genera, higher abundance of Burkholderia spp., and less than 25% of fungivorous nematodes. The α-Proteobacteria Rhodoplanes, Phenylobacterium, and Kaistobacter positively correlated with M. chitwoodi, and the Bacteroidia and γ-Proteobacteria positively correlated with P. neglectus. Our results, based largely on co-occurrence analyses, suggest that the abundance of Bacillus spp., Arthrobacter spp., and Lysobacter spp. in Colorado potato soils is negatively correlated with P. neglectus and M. chitwoodi abundance. Further studies will isolate and identify bacterial strains of these genera, and evaluate their nematode-antagonistic activity.