Rhizosphere Study

This week, Hannah sampled the rhizosphere soil from wheat, Kernza, and unbred intermediate wheatgrass, to look for differences in their microbial communities.

The RHIZOSPHERE is the zone right next to plant roots, and it can house 100x more microbes than the rest of the soil! Plants exude tasty sugars into the rhizosphere to feed beneficial microbes, which in turn break down and deliver nutrients (just like the microbes in our gut!). So how has plant breeding affected the Kernza rhizosphere, and how does it compare to wheat? Stay tuned…