Investigating the effect of belowground microbial volatiles on plant nutrient status: perspective and limitations

Volatile organic compounds displayed biological activities on a wide range of organisms, including plants and microbes. Investigating their role in the plant-microbe interaction processes occurring in the soil is challenging. By simulating belowground communication conditions between plant and microbes, in this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of the volatiles emitted by Serratia plymuthica and Fusarium culmorum on the nutrient status of maize plants. Plants were grown in potting soil and exposed to volatiles emitted by microbes inoculated in Petri dishes at the bottom of a jar. Nutrients content of plant tissues as well as soil volatiles were analyzed by ICP-MS and GC-MS, respectively. Our results showed that volatiles emitted belowground by Serratia plymuthica and Fusarium culmorum, in monoculture or interaction, differentially impacted on the content of some nutrient in plants, indicating that microbial volatiles-emitted belowground can affect the nutritional status of plants from a distance.