The contribution of foliar fungi to agricultural soil microbiomes in an organic cropping system.

With finite arable land available to support a growing human population, sustainable agricultural techniques are increasingly needed to provide long-term food security. Traditionally, the focus of using cover crops as a technique in organic agriculture has been on the improved nutrient and physical properties of soil that result from their use. However, recent technological developments in sequencing have enabled a new window into the benefits of plant microbiomes in agriculture that extend beyond these traditionally touted effects. This project will investigate one relatively under-described effect of using cover cropping systems – the transfer of microbes from plants to soil. Specifically, I will work in collaboration with Star Route Farms to determine how the integration of phyllosphere fungi (asymptomatic fungi growing on leaf exteriors and interiors) from purple vetch cover crops influence the diversity of the soil microbiome underneath key organic cash crops such as dinosaur kale, little gem lettuce, and romaine lettuce. The results of this research may provide new insight into the use of cover cropping systems in sustainable agricultural practices and reveal the diversity of microbes in these increasingly important food production systems.