Effects of vermicompost on tomato Fusarium wilt and soil microbial community structure

ABSTRACT Fusarium wilt of tomato is widespread throughout China, and the large spread of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp.lycopersici (FOC) in the soil is the main reason. The application of vermicompost provides abundant antagonists and is an ecologically-friendly method for the biological control of Fusarium wilt of tomatoes. In this paper, Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing were used to explore the relationship between the incidence of Fusarium wilt of tomato and soil microorganisms in more detail and analyse the contributing factors of changes. Compared with the control treatment, vermicompost treatment promoted the growth of Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Saccharibacteria and Planctomycetes and inhibited the growth of Proteobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Firmicutes, Verrucomicrobia, and Cyanobacteria. The relative abundance of Ascomycota was negatively related to that of Basidiomycota. The results showed that the incidence of Fusarium wilt of vermicompost treatment was 36.5%∼73.9% lower than that of the control treatment. The relative abundance of Proteobacteria was positively related to the incidence of Fusarium wilt, while the ACE and Chao diversity indices of bacterial communities were significantly negatively related to the incidence of Fusarium wilt (p<0.05). Compared with other treatments, the 1:1 group exhibited a maximum diversity index, suggesting superior efficiency in the control of Fusarium wilt of tomato.