Fig. 2: Effect of P deficiency on rhizospheric microorganism diversity.

a Beta diversity difference analysis results based on the normalized ASV abundance, with the Kruskal‒Wallis H test. Normal control (CK) and P deficiency (LP) groups. Spring type (S); semiwinter type (SW); winter type (W). The red box at the bottom left indicates the sampled lateral roots. A total of 50 cultivars were studied, with 3–4 biological replicates for each cultivar in the CK group (totaling 200 samples) or the LP group (totaling 199 samples). Boxplot center: median; box boundaries: lower quartile (Q1) and upper quartile (Q3); minimum: Q1-1.5 × (Q3-Q1); maximum: Q3 + 1.5 × (Q3-Q1). b Relative abundance of the 17 most abundant bacterial genera in the CK and LP samples (mean values). The genera with < 1% relative abundance (expressed as the sum of the ASVs across the 399 samples) were classified as “others” (comprising 1360 genera, accounting for 8.2% of all ASVs). Source data are provided as a Source Data file. c Correlation analysis of bacterial families as a function of P content in shoots. The plot shows bacterial families with ≥ 1% relative abundance (17 genera). A two-sided Wilcoxon rank sum test was used for statistical significance and corrected for multiple testing with a FDR, bootstrap = 0.95. The average proportions in LP samples are indicated by circle size. The color of circles denotes the correlation coefficient to the total P content in the shoots. The black dotted line represents the threshold for a P-value of 0.05. Source data are provided as a Source Data file. d Identification of modules associated with both Flavobacterium abundance and four phenotypes (shoot dry weight (SD), lateral root dry weight (RD), phosphorus content (P), and absorption rate (ABS)) based on correlation analysis. e Heatmaps representation of gene expression levels for core DEGs associated with phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and glycolysis processes based on the RNA-seq data. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.