Suppressive Soils: Connecting Soil Health with Disease Management in Horticultural Crops

Dear Colleagues,

Developing pathogen-suppressive soils (as analogues to genetically modified plants) is a complex process of building self-defense against the entry and onward proliferation of soil-borne pathogens coupled with an increase in the load of plant-beneficial microbes as a stable microbial fabric. While doing so, the role of soil microbial communities (microbiome) is simply undeniable. The characteristic microbiome (input-responsive biological trait of soil) representing the microbial niche (microbial antagonists and plant-beneficial microbes) of either the rhizosphere or endosphere is the result of a fierce battle between different microbial communities. In the process, the rhizosphere develops typifying microbial networking supportive to suppression of soil-borne pathogens and simultaneously elicits the priming response on plant growth via elevated nutrient bioavailability. Such agroecological biodynamics mediate between two overlapping processes, soil health and disease suppression, in a complementary manner through cascades of molecular signals of microbial origin. Horticultural crops offering an additional source of nutritional security are the target crops likely to benefit more from the nexus of soil health–disease suppression.

This Special Issue is proposed to address topics including host–pathogen–beneficial microbes in a tripartite relationship; shaping suppressive soils through microbial networking; microbial pyramiding and biochemical indicators of suppressive soils; signalomics (transcriptomics- and metabolomics-mediated) of soil health-disease resistance relationships; and agronomic response of soil health-mediated plant disease control. These topics would aid in developing a coevolutionary framework of microbial communities associated with suppressive soils as a part of smart soils to be able to trigger the development of microbially engineered plants through a win–win relationship. We look forward to your submissions.

Dr. Popy Bora
Dr. Anoop Kumar Srivastava
Dr. José Antonio Pascual
Dr. Hassan Etesami
Guest Editors

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• agronomic response
• communication signals
• disease suppression
• horticultural crops
• microbial antagonists
• microbial networking
• plant beneficial microbes
• soil health–pathogen interaction