Induction and/or Selection of Phenolic Acid-Utilizing Bulk-Soil and Rhizosphere Bacteria and Their Influence on Phenolic Acid Phytotoxicity

Bulk-soil and rhizosphere bacteria are thought to exert considerable influence over the types and concentrations of phytotoxins, including phenolic acids, that reach a root surface. Induction and/or selection of phenolic acid-utilizing (PAU) bacteria within the bulk-soil and rhizosphere have been observed when soils are enriched with individual phenolic acids at concentrations 0.25 mol/g soil. However, since field soils frequently contain individual phenolic acids at concentrations well below 0.1 mol/g soil, the actual importance of such induction and/or selection remains uncertain. Common bacteriological techniques (e.g., isolation on selective media, and plate dilution frequency technique) were used to demonstrate in Cecil A_p soil systems: (1) that PAU bacterial communities in the bulk soil and the rhizosphere of cucumber seedlings were induced and/or selected by mixtures composed of individual phenolic acids at concentrations well below 0.25 mol/g soil; (2) that readily available carbon sources other than phenolic acids, such as glucose, did not modify induction and/or selection of PAU bacteria; (3) that the resulting bacterial communities readily utilize mixtures of phenolic acids as a carbon source; and (4) that depending on conditions (e.g., initial PAU bacterial populations, and phenolic acid concentration) there were significant inverse relationships between PAU bacteria in the rhizosphere of cucumber seedlings and absolute rates of leaf expansion and/or shoot biomass. The decline in seedling growth could not be attributed to resource competition (e.g., nitrogen) between the seedlings and the PAU bacteria in these studies. The induced and/or selected rhizosphere PAU bacteria, however, reduced the magnitude of growth inhibition by phenolic acid mixtures. For a 0.6 mol/g soil equimolar phenolic acid mixture composed of p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and vanillic acid, modeling indicated that an increase of 500% in rhizosphere PAU bacteria would lead to an approximate 5% decrease (e.g., 20–25%) in inhibition of absolute rates of leaf expansion. As far as we know, this is the first time that such a relationship has been quantified.