ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Symbiotic Interactions
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative Microbial Strategies for Improving Plant Resilience in Sustainable AgricultureView all articles
Growth Promotion and Stress Tolerance of Soybean Plants Driven by Seed Treatment with Synthetic Bacterial Community of Soybean-Associated Beneficial Bacteria
Provisionally accepted
- Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, United States
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We identified soybean-associated beneficial bacteria (SABB) from the root endosphere and rhizosphere of field-grown soybean plants and constructed seven sets of synthetic bacterial community (SBC), each comprising 5 to 20 SABB strains selected for various beneficial traits that promote soybean growth and health. Among these, two SBC sets, Set2 and Setm4, demonstrated superior performances in enhancing plant growth and resistance to the fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia solani when applied via seed treatment. Notably, seed treatment with Set2 or Setm4 also improved soybean resilience to abiotic stresses, including drought and waterlogging. We investigated the impact of SBC seed treatments on the structure of soybean microbiota. Profiling of the root endosphere and rhizosphere microbiota revealed that SBC application through seed treatment significantly altered the composition of soybean-associated microbial community, including the enrichment of key symbiotic taxa, such as Bradyrhizobium elkanii, and increased microbial network complexity. These findings suggest that the beneficial effects of SBC through seed treatment are closely related to microbiome restructuring in soybean roots. This study provides valuable insights into the development of innovative and sustainable crop management strategies, highlighting the potential of SBC-based seed treatments to enhance growth and stress resilience in soybeans and other major crops.
Keywords: soybean microbiome, Synthetic community, Plant-microbiome interactions, Seed treatment, enhanced disease resistance, enhanced drought tolerance, enhanced waterlogging tolerance
Received: 21 Oct 2025; Accepted: 29 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Calderon, Gouli, Barphagha and Ham. 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: Jong Hyun Ham
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