Replant diseases: Bacterial community structure and diversity in peach rhizosphere as determined by metabolic and genetic fingerprinting

Peach tree replant disease, though reported on in the literature for more than two centuries, has yet to have its causes clearly defined. Decline in peach productivity has been attributed to toxic agents, insects, nutritional disturbances, spray residues, fungi and nematodes. Bacteria has also been indicated as a contributing factor.Peach replant disease was reproduced by using two successive cultures on the same soil. Bacterial communities were isolated and characterized from healthy and diseased peach trees. The potential role of cyanide production by rhizobacteria in the replant problem of peaches was studied. Culture-dependent (evaluation of the number of culturable bacteria, metabolic activities, Biolog^® GN2) and independent (ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis, RISA) methods were used, in order to compare bacterial community structure and diversity in healthy and sick soils and to evaluate the possible role of cyanide.Bacterial densities were significantly increased in sick soils. Metabolic activities (Biolog^® GN2) and genetic structure, observed through RISA, were also significantly modified in sick soils. Changes in the composition of individual microbial groups in the rhizosphere of peach trees excavated from healthy or sick soil indicated the involvement of rhizobacteria in the etiology of the replant sickness of peach soil. More than 60% of the strains isolated from healthy soils corresponded to Pseudomonas sp. and 58% of the isolates from sick soils were Bacillus sp. This study determined that Bacillus were able to produce in vitro HCN. It also appeared that in sick soil, there was a shift in the structure of bacterial communities with an increase noted in phytotoxic microorganisms capable of producing HCN compounds.