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Summary Receptor‐like kinases (RLKs) constitute the largest receptor family involved in the regulation of plant immunity and growth, but small‐molecule inhibitors that target RLKs to improve agronomic traits remain unexplored. The RLK member FERONIA (FER) negatively regulates plant resistance to certain soil‐borne diseases that are difficult to control and cause huge losses in crop yields and economy. Here, we identified 33 highly effective FER kinase inhibitors from 1494 small molecules by monitoring FER autophosphorylation in vitro. Four representative inhibitors (reversine, cenisertib, staurosporine and lavendustin A) inhibited the kinase activity of FER and its homologues in several crops by targeting the conserved ATP pocket in the kinase structure. FER contributes to the physiological impact of representative inhibitors in plants. The treatment of roots with reversine, staurosporine and lavendustin A enhanced innate immunity in plant roots and thus alleviated soil‐borne diseases in tobacco, tomato and rice without growth penalties. Consistently, RNA sequencing assays showed that lavendustin A and reversine exert profound impacts on immunity‐related gene expression. Our results will set a new milestone in the development of the plant RLK kinase regulation theory and provide a novel strategy for the prevention and control of plant soil‐borne diseases without growth penalties.

Background Soil nutrient status and soil-borne diseases are pivotal factors impacting modern intensive agricultural production. The interplay among plants, soil microbiome, and nutrient regimes in agroecosystems is essential for developing effective disease management. However, the influence of nutrient availability on soil-borne disease suppression and associated plant-microbe interactions remains to be fully explored. T his study aims to elucidate the mechanistic understanding of nutrient impacts on disease suppression, using phosphorous as a target nutrient. Results A 6-year field trial involving monocropping of tomatoes with varied fertilizer manipulations demonstrated that phosphorus availability is a key factor driving the control of bacterial wilt disease caused by Ralstonia solanacearum . Subsequent greenhouse experiments were then conducted to delve into the underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon by varying phosphorus availability for tomatoes challenged with the pathogen. Results showed that the alleviation of phosphorus stress promoted the disease-suppressive capacity of the rhizosphere microbiome, but not that of the bulk soil microbiome. This appears to be an extension of the plant trade-off between investment in disease defense mechanisms versus phosphorus acquisition. Adequate phosphorus levels were associated with elevated secretion of root metabolites such as L-tryptophan, methoxyindoleacetic acid, O-phosphorylethanolamine, or mangiferin, increasing the relative density of microbial biocontrol populations such as Chryseobacterium in the rhizosphere. On the other hand, phosphorus deficiency triggered an alternate defense strategy, via root metabolites like blumenol A or quercetin to form symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, which facilitated phosphorus acquisition as well. Conclusion Overall, our study shows how phosphorus availability can influence the disease suppression capability of the soil microbiome through plant-microbial interactions. These findings highlight the importance of optimizing nutrient regimes to enhance disease suppression, facilitating targeted crop management and boosting agricultural productivity. 5_PfxzZNKyxgT3zPqUmUdg Video Abstract

Modern intensive cropping systems often contribute to the accumulation of phenolic acids in the soil, which promotes the development of soilborne diseases. This can be suppressed by intercropping. This study analyzed the effects of intercropping on Fusarium wilt based on its effect on photosynthesis under stress by the combination of Fusarium commune and cinnamic acid. The control was not inoculated with F. commune , while the faba bean plants ( Vicia faba L.) were inoculated with this pathogen in the other treatments. The infected plants were also treated with cinnamic acid. This study examined the development of Fusarium wilt together with its effects on the leaves, absorption of nutrients, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, contents of photosynthetic pigments, activities of photosynthetic enzymes, gas exchange parameters, and the photosynthetic assimilates of faba bean from monocropping and intercropping systems. Under monocropping conditions, the leaves of the plants inoculated with F. commune grew significantly less, and there was enhanced occurrence of the Fusarium wilt compared with the control. Compared with the plants solely inoculated with F. commune , the exogenous addition of cinnamic acid to the infected plants significantly further reduced the growth of faba bean leaves and increased the occurrence of Fusarium wilt. A comparison of the combination of F. commune and cinnamic acid in intercropped wheat and faba bean compared with monocropping showed that intercropping improved the absorption of nutrients, increased photosynthetic pigments and its contents, electron transport, photosynthetic enzymes, and photosynthetic assimilates. The combination of these factors reduced the occurrence of Fusarium wilt in faba bean and increased the growth of its leaves. These results showed that intercropping improved the photosynthesis, which promoted the growth of faba bean, thus, reducing the development of Fusarium wilt following the stress of infection by F. commune and cinnamic acid. This research should provide more information to enhance sustainable agriculture.

Greenhouse eggplant monocropping in China has contributed to the aggravation of soil-borne diseases, reductions in crop quality and yield, and the degradation of physical and chemical soil properties. Crop rotation is one effective way of alleviating the problems of continuous cropping worldwide; however, few studies have reported changes in soil bacterial community structures and physical and chemical soil properties after Brassica vegetables had been rotated with eggplant in greenhouses. In this experiment, mustard-eggplant (BFN) and oilseed rape-eggplant (BFC) rotations were studied to identify changes in the physicochemical properties and bacterial community structure in soil that was previously subject to monocropping. Samples were taken after two types of Brassica plants incorporated into soil for 15 days to compare with continually planted eggplant (control, CN) and chemical disinfection of soil (CF) in greenhouses. MiSeq pyrosequencing was used to analyze soil bacterial diversity and structure in the four different treatments. A total of 55,129 reads were identified, and rarefaction analysis showed that the soil treatments were equally sampled. The bacterial richness of the BFC treatment and the diversity of the BFN treatment were significantly higher than those of the other treatments. Further comparison showed that the bacterial community structures of BFC and BFN treatments were also different from CN and CF treatments. The relative abundance of several dominant bacterial genera in the BFC and BFN treatments (such as Flavobacteria, Stenotrophomonas, Massilia and Cellvibrio, which played different roles in improving soil fertility and advancing plant growth) was distinctly higher than the CN or CF treatments. Additionally, the total organic matter and Olsen-P content of the BFC and BFN treatments were significantly greater than the CN treatment. We conclude that Brassica vegetables-eggplant crop rotations could provide a more effective means of solving the problems of greenhouse eggplant monocultures.

Sunflower, a significant oleaginous crop with horticultural applications, faces challenges in yield and quality due to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum infection. As an endophyte, Beauveria bassiana demonstrated promise as a dual-purpose biocontrol agent, suppressing plant phytopathogens and inducing plant resistance against pests. While its role as an endophyte has been explored in leaf diseases, its efficacy against soil-borne diseases, especially sclerotinia disease, remains underexplored. In the present study, we evaluated the colonization ability of B. bassiana in sunflower plants through seed soaking and root irrigation methods. Additionally, we investigated its potential benefits in promoting plant growth and mitigating the negative effects of S. sclerotiorum infection. Our results showed that B. bassiana presented as an endophyte in sunflowers with both seed soaking and root irrigation treatments, leds to enhanced plant growth. Moreover, B. bassiana colonization significantly suppressed S. sclerotiorum infection in sunflower plants, even under conditions of artificial inoculation and infested soil. These findings indicate the promising ecological role of B. bassiana as a safe and effective strategy for biological control of sclerotinia disease in agroecosystems.

The understanding of the dynamic of soil-borne diseases is related to the microbial composition of the rhizosphere which is the key to progress in the field of biological control. Trichoderma spp. is commonly used as a biological control agent. The use of next generation sequencing approaches and quantitative PCR are two successful approaches to assess the effect of using compost as substrate fortified with two Trichoderma strains (Trichoderma harzianum or Trichoderma asperellum) on bacterial and fungal communities in pepper rhizosphere infected with Phytophthora nicotianae. The results showed changes in the bacterial rhizosphere community not attributed to the Trichoderma strain, but to the pathogen infection, while, fungi were not affected by pathogen infection and depended on the type of substrate. The Trichoderma asperellum fortified compost was the most effective combination against the pathogen. This could indicate that the effect of fortified composts is greater than compost itself and the biocontrol effect should be attributed to the Trichoderma strains rather than the compost microbiota, although some microorganisms could help with the biocontrol effect.

Mulberry bacterial wilt disease, caused by Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum, is a devastating soil-borne disease in the silk-mulberry-related industry. In this study, through high-throughput sequencing, we compared the rhizosphere bacterial composition of the mulberry-resistant cultivar (K10) and susceptible cultivar (G12), confirming Bacillus as a genus-level biomarker for K10. Next, twelve Bacillus spp. isolates, derived from the rhizosphere of K10, were screened for their antagonistic activity against R. pseudosolanacearum. The isolate showing strong antagonism was identified as B. velezensis K0T24 and selected for further analysis. The fermentation supernatant of B. velezensis K0T24 significantly inhibited the growth of R. pseudosolanacearum (82.47%) and the expression of its pathogenic genes. Using B. velezensis K0T24 in mulberry seedlings also increased defense enzyme activities and achieved a control efficacy of up to 55.17% against mulberry bacterial wilt disease. Collectively, our findings demonstrate the potential of B. velezensis K0T24 in suppressing mulberry bacterial wilt disease.

Soybean root rot is a typical soil-borne disease that severely affects the yield of soybean. Funneliformis mosseae is one of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF) dominant strains in soybean continuous cropping soil. The aim of this study was to providing an experimental basis for the study of the molecular mechanism underlying the alleviation of the obstacles associated with the continuous cropping of soybean by AMF. In this study, F. mosseae was inoculated in soil planted with soybean infected with Fusarium oxysporum. The results showed that the incidence of soybean root rot was significantly reduced after inoculation with F. mosseae. In F. mosseae-treated samples, the significantly upregulated genes encoded transmembrane protein in fungal cell membrane. The significantly downregulated genes encoded some proteins, which took part in composition of essential component of fungal cell wall; hydrolyse cellulose and hemicellulose. The DEGs in each treatment were enriched in antigen processing and presentation, carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, the MAPK signalling pathway, protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum and RNA degradation. Inoculation with F. mosseae could in a variety of ways to promote the growth, development of soybean and improve disease resistance. Such as help fungal build barriers to the disease resistance of host plant and enhance their pathogenicity; damaging the structure of the pathogen; protect plant tissues and so on. This study provides an experimental basis for further research on the molecular mechanism underlying the alleviation of challenges associated with the continuous cropping of soybean by AMF.