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A soil bacterium can shape belowground interactions between maize, herbivores and entomopathogenic nematodes

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Abstract

Background and aim

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) use odor cues to locate and infect their insect hosts in the soil, making them an important tool in sustainable management of agricultural insect pests. However, very little information is available on the role of soil bacteria in mediating belowground interactions between plants, herbivores and the EPN. In this study, a maize-herbivore-entomopathogenic nematode complex was used to investigate the effect of plant root colonization by a soil bacterium on belowground tritrophic interactions.

Methods

The impact of maize root colonization by Bacillus pumilus strain INR-7 on the preference of the EPN, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora was tested in four arm olfactometer bioassays in the presence or absence of the root herbivore Diabrotica virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Plant volatiles were collected for profile characterization. Further preference assays were performed using plant volatile extracts and synthetic volatiles.

Results

In the absence of the root herbivore, the nematodes were attracted to maize roots whose seeds were coated with dead and living bacteria. In the presence of the herbivore, the nematodes selectively oriented towards infested plants whose seeds were treated with B. pumilus strain INR-7 than dead bacteria treated, untreated plants or sunshine sand mix. In contrast, plant volatile extracts or pure compounds did not reproduce the observed behavior.

Conclusions

The study showed that bacterial coating of maize seeds with the tested strain may play an important role in shaping belowground tritrophic interactions through mechanisms that would require further investigations. The potential of B. pumilus strain INR-7 integration in maize rootworm management program is discussed.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Mr. John Mcinroy for assisting with bacilli preparations and Dr. Ni Xiang, postdoc in Dr. Kathy Lawrence’s lab at Auburn university for helping extract and count the entomopathogenic nematodes. This project was conducted at Auburn University with support by Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station and the Hatch program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA

    Joseph Onwusemu Disi, Hassan Kamrul Mohammad, Kathy Lawrence, Joseph Kloepper & Henry Fadamiro

  2. Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Joseph Onwusemu Disi

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  1. Joseph Onwusemu Disi
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  2. Hassan Kamrul Mohammad
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  3. Kathy Lawrence
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Correspondence to Joseph Onwusemu Disi.

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Disi, J.O., Mohammad, H.K., Lawrence, K. et al. A soil bacterium can shape belowground interactions between maize, herbivores and entomopathogenic nematodes. Plant Soil 437, 83–92 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-019-03957-7

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