Geocaulosphere soil bacterial community drives potato common scab outcomes beyond pathogen abundance

Abstract

The assembly mechanisms of soil microbiome during plant disease progression remain incomplete. This study linked potato common scab (PCS) severity to destabilized soil microbiome dynamics in potato geocausphere soil (GS) through integrated metagenomic analysis and culture-based experiments. Across four Shandong fields, PCS-infected GS exhibited an 11.66% reduction in bacterial α-diversity (Shannon index) and elevated stochastic community assembly. Bacterial community structure explained 39.28% (GS) and 15.96% (bulk soil) of PCS variance, outperforming pathogen abundance contributions (14.39% GS, 7.33% BS). Two microbial interaction patterns emerged in GS: 1) synchronized shifts between pathogens and beneficial taxa as PCS intensified; 2) stochastic assembly governing entire communities but deterministic processes dominating specialized subgroups. These results propose a microbial stability framework connecting soil microbiome structural rules to plant disease progression, emphasizing community-level dynamics over pathogen-centric explanations.