Comparison of Diversity and Functions of Epiphytic Bacteria from Cultivated and Weed Plants in Agrocenoses
Diversity of epiphytic bacterial complexes from cultivated and weed plants was analyzed using the frequency of dominance of bacterial taxa in these communities and the principal component method. The presence of both common dominants on cultivated and weed plants and distinct differences between the composition of the epiphytic bacterial complexes of these plants was established. Only on weeds the representatives of chemolithotrophic bacteria capable of tetrathionate and thiosulfate assimilation were found. The antibiotic activity of bacteria isolated from weed plants was found to be almost twice as high as that found for bacteria from cultivated plants. The obtained data indicate the positive effect of bacterial communities from weed plants, which makes it possible to protect cultivated plants from phytopathogens.