Press Releases | October 23, 2023

Toward elucidating the interactions among soil environment, plants, and soil organisms

The research team led by Professor Toshihiko Eki of the Department of Applied Chemistry and Life Science, Toyohashi University of Technology (concurrent post with the Research Center for Agrotechnology and Biotechnology) and others used DNA metabarcoding to analyze changes in the composition of soil organisms associated with crop growth in two corn-cabbage rotation fields in Tahara City. The results showed that the soil biota and their networks in agricultural land are unexpectedly easily altered by the soil environment, cultivation history and crops. In the future, the DNA metabarcoding for soil biota analysis will enable the elucidation of the relationship between crops and soil organisms, as well as the evaluation of the biological properties of farmland and prediction of crop diseases, which are expected to contribute to improved crop cultivation technologies.

Full text: Changes in soil organisms in crop rotation farmland accessed by DNA metabarcoding