Baseline Microbiota of Blueberries, Soil, and Irrigation Water from Blueberry Farms Located in Three Geographical Regions

Authors

• Angelica Abdallah-Ruiz, Mississippi State University
• Clara Esteban-Perez, Invitrocell SAS
• Shecoya B. White, Mississippi State University
• Wes Schilling, Mississippi State University
• Xue Zhang, Mississippi State University
• Eric T. Stafne, Mississippi State UniversityFollow
• Alejandro Rodríguez-Magaña, Universidad Panamericana
• Fernando Peña-Baracaldo, Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales
• Carlos A. Moreno-Ortiz, Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales
• Juan L. Silva, Mississippi State University

MSU Affiliation

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; Department of Biochemistry, Nutrition and Health Promotion; Extension Service (MSUES); Coastal Research and Extension Center; Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES); South Mississippi Branch Experiment Station

Creation Date

2026-06-30

Abstract

Bacterial microbiota was determined in fruit, soil, and irrigation water from blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) farms located in Cundinamarca, Colombia; Mississippi, United States; and Jalisco, Mexico. Bacterial communities were studied using 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene amplification by targeting the V3–V4 hypervariable region. The most abundant phylum in fruit was Proteobacteria in Colombia and the United States and Firmicutes in Mexico. The most abundant phylum in soil and water was Proteobacteria for all regions. The top three genera found in fruit were Heliorestis (9.2 %), Rhodanobacter (3.3 %), and Sphingomonas (2.8 %) for Colombia, Heliorestis (23.1 %), Thiomonas (8.5 %), and Methylobacterium (3.3 %) for the United States, and Heliorestis (47.4 %), Thiomonas (9.1 %), and Bacillus (4.6 %) for Mexico. Colombia reported the highest (Padj < 0.05) alpha diversity for blueberries, and United States and Mexico had similar (Padj > 0.05) results. Beta diversity revealed bacterial communities in fruit differed (P < 0.05) by region. Bacterial differences existed between Colombia, United States, and Mexico for soil and fruit (P = 0.021, 0.003, and 0.006, respectively) and water and fruit (P = 0.003, 0.003, and 0.033, respectively). Blueberries grown in the three different regions have unique microbiota. Fruit and fruit-environment microbial composition also differed by region. These results provide a more complete profile of the bacterial communities on blueberries and their agricultural environments and could contribute to better management and decision-making practices in terms of plant health, food quality, and food safety.

Publication Date

12-15-2024

Publication Title

Heliyon

Publisher

Cell Press

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Rights

© 2024 The Authors

Recommended Citation

Abdallah-Ruiz, A., Esteban-Perez, C., White, S. B., Schilling, W., Zhang, X., Stafne, E. T., Rodríguez-Magaña, A., Peña-Baracaldo, F., Moreno-Ortiz, C. A., & Silva, J. L. (2024). Baseline microbiota of blueberries, soil, and irrigation water from blueberry farms located in three geographical regions. Heliyon, 10(23). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e40762