Salicylic Acid Signals Recruit the Rhizosphere Microbiome Cooperate Resistance to Watermelon Fusarium Wilt

Abstract Aims: In order to find out the mechanism of how salicylic acid signal recruit soil microorganisms to explain their cooperate resistance to Fusarium wilt disease in watermelon plants. Methods: In this experiment, we have examined the soil microbial diversity at three different sampling times after salicylic acid application by metagenomic using Illumina Novaseq6000 platform. Results: The results showed that the incidence of Watermelon Fusarium Wilt was significantly lower than control group after SA application. Notably, our results indicated that the application of salicylic acid recruit soil microbial communities in watermelon plants. Furthermore, the soil microbial metabolic pathway and microbial function were significantly different after SA treatment which is beneficial to the antagonism of plants against pathogens. Conclusion: Therefore, our results suggested that the induced resistant observed in watermelon against Fusarium wilt might be a case of cooperate resistance dependent on salicylic acid signals to recruit soil microorganisms.