Agrochemical applications on farmland aim to enhance crop yield; however, the consequence of biodiversity loss has caused a reduction in ecological functions. The positive endosphere interactions and crop rotation systems may function in restoring a stable ecosystem. Employing culture-independent techniques will help access the total bacteria community in the sunflower endosphere. Limited information is available on the bacteria diversity in sunflower plants cultivated under different agricultural practices. Hence, this study was designed to investigate the endophytic bacterial community structure of sunflower at the growing stage. Plant root and stem samples were sourced from two locations (Itsoseng and Lichtenburg), for DNA extraction and sequenced on the Illumina Miseq platform. The sequence dataset was analyzed using online bioinformatics tools. Saccharibacteria and Acidobacteria were dominant in plant roots, while the stem is dominated by Proteobacteria, Bacteriodetes, and Gemmatimonadetes across the sites. Bacterial genera, Acidovorax, Flavobacterium, Hydrogenophaga, and Burkholderia-Paraburkhoderia were found dominant in the root, while the stem is dominated by Streptomyces. The diverse bacterial community structure at phyla and class levels were significantly different in plant organs across the sites. The influence of soil physical and chemical parameters analyzed was observed to induce bacterial distribution across the sites. This study provides information on the dominant bacteria community structure in sunflowers at the growing stage and their predictive functions, which suggest their future exploration as bioinoculants for improved agricultural yields.
Keywords: Agricultural sustainability; amplicon sequencing; bacterial diversity; culture-independent techniques.