Fig. 1

Experimental design of the greenhouse experiment using two in vitro propagated potato cultivars (MONI, HERBST) acclimated in native soil with natural microbiome (NSM) and autoclaved soil with disturbed microbiome (DSM) for 14 days. After transfer to 1.5 L pots containing the corresponding soils, plants were grown for another 14 days under continuous watering (60% maximum water holding capacity (mWHC)). After 28 days, plants grown either in NSM or DSM soils were divided in two groups, one was constantly kept under continuous watering whereas the second was kept under reduced watering (RW = 30% mWHC). 14 days after imposition of water regimes, root, stem, leaf samples were taken to assess growth traits and rhizosphere soil samples were collected for bacterial and fungal community analyses. Created with BioRender.com