Comparison of the Peel-Associated Epiphytic Bacteria of Anthocyanin-Rich “Sun Black” and Wild-Type Tomatoes under Organic and Conventional Farming

Abstract

Tomatoes are among the most consumed vegetables worldwide and represent a source of health-beneficial substances. Our study represents the first investigating the peel-associated epiphytic bacteria of red and purple (anthocyanin-rich) tomatoes subjected to organic and conventional farming systems. Proteobacteria was the dominant phylum (relative abundances 79–91%) in all experimental conditions. Enterobacteriaceae represented a large fraction (39.3–47.5%) of the communities, with Buttiauxella and Atlantibacter as the most represented genera. The core microbiota was composed of 59 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), including the majority of the most abundant ones. The occurrence of the most abundant OTUs differed among the experimental conditions. OTU 1 (Buttiauxella), OTU 2 (Enterobacteriales), and OTU 6 (Bacillales) were higher in red and purple tomatoes grown under organic farming. OTU 5 (Acinetobacter) had the highest abundance in red tomatoes subjected to organic farming. OTU 3 (Atlantibacter) was among the major OTUs in red tomatoes under both farming conditions. OTU 7 (Clavibacter) and OTU 8 (Enterobacteriaceae) had abundances ≥1% only in red tomatoes grown under conventional farming. PCA and clustering analysis highlighted a high similarity between the bacterial communities of red and purple tomatoes grown under organic farming. Furthermore, the bacterial communities of purple tomatoes grown under organic farming showed the lowest diversity and evenness. This work paves the way to understand the role of nutritional superior tomato genotypes, combined with organic farming, to modulate the presence of beneficial/harmful bacteria and supply healthier foods within a sustainable agriculture.