The study of the phytobiome with respect to biologicals is natural – it makes perfect sense. Since about 2000, ABM and a growing number of companies have been studying the microbiome. The phytobiome is the plant equivalent of the human microbiome. It includes the plant itself, the plant’s environment and all micro and macro-organisms living in, on or around the plant.
One reason for studying the phytobiome is so we can understand what causes plant diseases.
Beneficial and pathogenic microbes are present on and in the plant and are part of the phytobiome.
In about 2008, the cost of sequencing individual microbes came way down and people were able for the first time to look all the microbes in a biome. They had the technology to look at it and the computational ability to analyze it. These two key capabilities are important.
What are the microbes doing in the phytobiome?…
