Soil microbial legacies and cultivar compatibility modulate the responses of wheat to drought

Global climate change stressors are altering soil function and reducing crop yields, yet the role of soil microbial legacies in shaping plant stress responses remains poorly understood. Here, we tested how long-term farming (organic vs conventional) and climate (ambient vs future) histories of soil microbiomes influence wheat performance under drought. Soil samples were collected from long-term experimental plots of the Global Change Experimental Facility (GCEF, Germany) and used to extract microbial communities, which were then used to inoculate sterilized potting soil in which two wheat cultivars, drought-sensitive Nordkap and drought-tolerant SU Fiete, were grown under controlled greenhouse drought. Our results showed that microbial inoculation enhanced germination relative to non-inoculated, with conventional–ambient microbiomes most strongly promoting emergence, while organic–future microbiomes suppressed seed germination. Under drought, aboveground fresh biomass and dry weight content diverged by interaction between cultivar and microbial legacy in such a way that Nordkap performed best with future-climate microbiomes, whereas SU Fiete benefited from ambient-climate microbiomes. The rhizosphere of plants inoculated with organic-derived microbes harbored a larger unique ASVs, with 442 bacterial and 70 fungal ASVs, compared with 381 bacterial and 48 fungal ASVs unique to conventional-derived microbes. We further showed that rhizosphere bacterial communities were influenced by complex interactions between microbial history (farming and climate), cultivar, and water stress, while fungal communities tracked only farming history, with organic legacies buffering fungal diversity under drought. Together, these results demonstrate that soil microbiomes retain the imprint of past management and climate, and that these legacies can either buffer or exacerbate plant stress responses depending on host genotype.