Foliar application of lambda-cyhalothrin modulates root exudate profile and the rhizosphere bacteria community of dioecious Populus cathayana

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Authors

  • Yue He
  • Zuodong Zhu
  • Zhenghu Zhou
  • Tao Lu
  • Amit Kumar
  • Zhichao Xia
Dioecious plants show sexual differences in resistance traits to abiotic stresses. However, the effects of exogenous pesticide application on female and male plant growth and their associated adaptation mechanisms are unclear. Our study investigated the effects of the broad-spectrum pesticide lambda-cyhalothrin (λ-CY) on dioecious Populus cathayana growth and explored the factors through which λ-CY changed the rhizosphere bacterial community and physicochemical soil properties via sex-specific metabolomics. The sequential application of λ-CY significantly suppressed male shoot- and root biomass, with little effect on the growth of females. Females possessed a higher intrinsic chemo-diversity within their root exudates, and their levels of various metabolites (sugars, fatty acids, and small organic acids) increased after exposure to λ-CY with consequences on bacterial community composition. Maintaining high bacterial alpha diversity and recruiting specific bacterial groups slowed down the loss of rhizosphere nutrients in females. In contrast, the reduction in bacterial alpha diversity and network structure stability in males was associated with lower rhizosphere nutrient availability. Spearman's correlation analysis revealed that several bacterial groups were positively correlated with the root secretion of lipids and organic acids, suggesting that these metabolites can affect the soil bacterial groups actively involved in the nutrient pool. This study provided novel insights that root exudates and soil microbial interactions may mediate sex-specific differences in response to pesticide application.
Original languageEnglish
Article number120123
JournalEnvironmental Pollution
Volume313
ISSN0269-7491
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15.11.2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China ( 32171634 ) and Open Grant for Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management ( Northeast Forestry University ), Ministry of Education ( KFJJ2021ZD02 ).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd

    Research areas

  • Dioecious plants, Pesticide, Root exudates, Sex-specific responses, Soil bacterial community
  • Biology