M. I. Prigigallo, S. Pirra, G. Bubici 2025 Mitigating the impact of soil salinity on tomato crops: unveiling the role of soil microorganisms. Journal of Plant Pathology 107 1674 https://doi.org/10.1007/s42161-025-02022-w
Abstract
Soil salinization poses a significant threat to modern agriculture, particularly in southern Italy, where climate change exacerbates the challenges faced by crops. This research aims to investigate the soil microbiome of three Apulian locations, including coastal (Fasano and Margherita di Savoia) and inland areas (Foggia), to identify salt-adapted microorganisms that may lead to the discovery of novel plant-beneficial taxa for sustainable tomato cultivation. Soil of the three locations differed in macro- and micronutrients content, including sodium, with the highest and lowest salinity in Fasano and Foggia, respectively. No remarkable difference occurred in texture. By a metagenomic analysis (Illumina platform), differential operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified in the Bacteria-, Archaea-, and Fungi-specific amplicons among locations and through three stages of the tomato cropping cycle. β-diversity indices were significantly different among locations for bacteria and fungi, and over the season for archaea. α-diversity indices indicated greater variation among the locations than among the sampling time points.
Read more at: https://iris.cnr.it/handle/20.500.14243/553841