IMPROVING PHOSPHORUS RECOVERY IN AQUAPONIC SYSTEMS THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL MANIPULATION OF THE PLANT RHIZOSPHERE MICROBIOTA

The overall goal of this proposal is to implement low-cost sequencing and -omics technologies to provide key insights into community structure and function of the plant rhizosphere in aquaponics (AP) systems. The specific objectives of this research are to:1) Identify the main environmental drivers of microbial community composition in AP systems.2) Determine if the proportions of rhizosphere microbiota responsible for P-transformation change during the plant lifecycle;3) Determine the effect of environmental manipulation (pH and temperature) on rhizosphere microbiota in vitro;4) Evaluate if optimized environmental parameters correlate to microbial populations that improve P solubilization in-situ;