Bacillus subtilis colonizes rhizosphere of plants and releases some volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can modulate the growth and root architecture in several plants. However, the influence of VOCs on growth and root architecture in soybean remains unknown. In this study, we hypothesized that VOCs would enhance the growth of soybean and change its root architecture. Thus, experiments under growth chamber were carried out to investigate the effect of VOCs released by B. subtilis AP-3 on growth and root architecture of soybean (control and plants exposed to VOCs) and eight replicates. Plant growth and root architecture parameters in soybean were measured 20 days after soybean emergence. Soybean exposed to microbial VOCs displayed significant increase in plant biomass (88% and 18% for shoot and roots, respectively) than the control. Microbial VOCs changed the root architecture of soybean that exhibited roots with higher length, diameter, surface area, and volume. The principal component analysis differentiated plants exposed to VOCs from those plants without exposure. The findings from this study are important since the modulation of root architecture can improve the absorption of water and nutrients from the soil.

中文翻译：

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枯草芽孢杆菌可通过挥发性有机化合物调节大豆的生长和根系结构

枯草芽孢杆菌在植物的根际定居，并释放一些挥发性有机化合物（VOC），这些化合物可调节几种植物的生长和根系结构。但是，VOC对大豆生长和根系结构的影响仍然未知。在这项研究中，我们假设挥发性有机化合物会促进大豆的生长并改变其根系结构。因此，在生长室下进行了实验，以研究枯草芽孢杆菌释放的挥发性有机化合物的影响。AP-3涉及大豆（暴露于VOC的对照和植物）的生长和根系结构以及八次重复。在大豆出苗后20天测量大豆的植物生长和根系结构参数。暴露于微生物VOC的大豆比对照显示出植物生物量的显着增加（芽和根分别为88％和18％）。微生物的挥发性有机化合物改变了大豆的根部结构，大豆的根部具有更高的长度，直径，表面积和体积。主成分分析将暴露于VOC的植物与未暴露于VOC的植物区分开。这项研究的发现很重要，因为调节根系结构可以改善土壤对水和养分的吸收。