ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Symbiotic Interactions
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1578662
Functional Differentiation of Industrial Hemp Rhizosphere Microbiome along Environmental Gradients
Provisionally accepted
Jiayang Li1
Hong Zhang2
Tuhong Wang1
Wenting Li3
Zhecheng Xu3Zhiqiang Song3
Fengming Chen1Huajiao Qiu1*
Jianping Xu4*
Yi Cheng3*- 1Changsha Medical University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China
- 2Shenzhen Noposion Crop Science Co, Shenzhen, China
- 3Institute of Bast Fiber Crops and Center for Southern Economic Crops, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha, Hunan Province, China
- 4Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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The southwestern, central, and northeastern regions of China are the primary cultivation areas for industrial hemp. Microorganisms within the soil-root continuum play a crucial role in plant health. However, the mechanisms by which these microbial communities respond to environmental gradients remain unclear. This study aimed to explore how bacterial and fungal communities in the bulk soil and rhizosphere of industrial hemp respond to environmental gradients across diverse climatic zones. We collected soil samples from eight representative regions and analyzed microbial diversity, composition, and assembly mechanisms using DNA metabarcoding. Results showed that microbial diversity in the rhizosphere was lower than in bulk soil, likely due to selective root filtering. The lowest diversity occurred in the temperate continental climate, highlighting the effects of precipitation, soil nutrients, and organic carbon. Climate type was the main factor influencing microbial community structure, with annual precipitation and temperature as key environmental constraints. Bacterial communities were mainly assembled by deterministic processes, while fungal communities were driven by stochastic processes. Additionally, geographic variation in rhizosphere microbial function reflected a co-adaptive mechanism between hemp and its microbial community under varying environmental pressures. These findings enhance our understanding of industrial hemp soil microbiomes and provide insights for optimizing cultivation management.
Keywords: Industrial hemp, Soil microbiota, Rhizosphere microbiome, Environmental gradient, community assembly
Received: 18 Feb 2025; Accepted: 10 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Zhang, Wang, Li, Xu, Song, Chen, Qiu, Xu and Cheng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Huajiao Qiu, Changsha Medical University, Changsha, 410219, Hunan Province, China
Jianping Xu, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, L8S 4K1, Ontario, Canada
Yi Cheng, Institute of Bast Fiber Crops and Center for Southern Economic Crops, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha, 410205, Hunan Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.