Microbial communities associated with wheat, canola and lentil seeds produced in Saskatchewan

Non-Peer ReviewedCereals, oilseeds and legumes are staple crops in the Canadian Prairies that significantly contribute to global food supply. Microbial communities naturally carried by seeds offer the potential of improving crop production and yield through protection against abiotic and biotic factors. In this study, we assessed five cultivars/lines of each crop grown under different conditions (location, year) in Saskatchewan to investigate factors responsible for the seed microbiome assemblage. Our data reveal that crop type represented the largest source of variation for both bacterial (30%) and fungal communities (47%), while environment explained an additional 10% and 15%, of the microbial community variance. Additionally, in every sample analyzed, a core microbiome was detected consisting of five bacterial and twelve fungal amplicon sequence variants . Increasing our knowledge of assembly and dynamics of the seed microbiota will lead to better strategies for manipulating the plant microbiome through breeding, inoculation, and crop production practices in order to assure sustainable agriculture systems