Conditioned soils reveal plant-selected microbial communities that impact plant drought response

Rhizobacterial communities can contribute to plant trait expression and performance, including plant tolerance against abiotic stresses such as drought. The conditioning of microbial communities related to disease resistance over generations has been shown to develop suppressive soils which aid in plant defense responses. Here, we applied this concept for the development of drought resistant soils. We hypothesized that soils conditioned under severe drought stress and tomato cultivation over two generations, will allow for plant selection of rhizobacterial communities that provide plants with improved drought resistant traits. Surprisingly, the plants treated with a drought-conditioned microbial inoculant showed significantly decreased plant biomass in two generations of growth. Microbial community composition was significantly different between the inoculated and control soils within each generation (i.e., microbial history effect) and for the inoculated soils between generations (i.e., conditioning effect). These findings indicate a substantial effect of conditioning soils on the abiotic stress response and microbial recruitment of tomato plants undergoing drought stress.