I was thinking about the role potatoes play in our market garden and have been doing a deep dive into researching their effects on microbiology. I know that many of the soil borne diseases for potatoes are the reasons why they are generally recommended not to grow continuously in the same space. As a rule we don't generally crop rotate on our farm, but potatoes are the only crop we make an exception to this rule and intentionally move through different beds. We use the potato as a disrupter, justifying it's rotation for the benefits we get from diversifying the soil biome. We have noticed that potatoes generally improve the conditions of the crops we resume with the beds after the potatoes are harvested.
I came across this 2016 study that shows potatoes have a higher levels of galactose root exudates than any previously studied plant and that this sugar increased the replication of
Pectobacterium atrosepticum.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5055634/
This would make sense since all bacteria multiply with sugars. I know that galactose has a part to play in cell wall growth, and this
this 2022 study found that galactose toxicity inhibited cell wall growth in rockcress (a plant that is often used in experiments for studying plant growth).
Galactose toxicity is known to be mitigated by the presence of other simple sugars, but does anyone have some ideas on other benefits galactose might have to growers?
Any there any Peruvians out there that could shed some light on native companion plants that share the potatoes natural habitat? What kind of root exudates do these native companions have?
Are there any beneficial microbiomes that could benefit from a boost of galactose we could try to replicate in a garden?
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