Belowground microbial symbiont enhances plant susceptibility to a spider mite through change in soybean leaf quality

To examine how rhizobia affect the chemical and nutrient status in leaves of soybean (Glycine max L.), and how rhizobia change plant susceptibility to a generalist spider mite (Tetranycus urticae), we cultivated root-nodulating soybeans (R+) and their non-nodulating mutant (R-) in a common garden. We experimentally fertilized the plants with nitrogen to examine effects of rhizobia on the plant traits and plant susceptibility to spider mites at different nitrogen levels. R+ plants produced more leaves containing greater nitrogen and less total phenolics than R- plants. Spider mites fed on R+ leaves produced more eggs than those fed on R- leaves. The positive effect of rhizobia on spider mite fecundity could be due to an increase in foliar N content and/or to a decrease in concentration of phenolics. Although root nodule mass did not differ among different nitrogen levels, ureide-N, an indicator of nitrogen provided by rhizobia, in xylem sap decreased at moderate and high soil nitrogen levels. Therefore, we expected that rhizobia effects on egg production of the spider mite would decrease in high soil nitrogen conditions. However, the effect of rhizobia was still maintained even at high soil nitrogen levels. Thus, soil nitrogen and rhizobia may independently affect the reproductive performance of the spider mite.