Background and challenges

Despite their significance, the function, nature and mode of action of rhizodeposits remain poorly understood. It is now essential to unravel the principle and the complexity underlying this communication in the soil and establish a functional link between the nature of rhizodeposits and the regulation of rhizospheric biotic interactions. To achieve this goal, it is essential to develop interdisciplinary approaches that encompass physiology, pathology, microbiology, ecology, chemistry, and soil science, considering soil interactions in their entirety.
The PHARE project is based on two previous initiatives of 2021 and 2022: the PHARE project supported by the SuMCrop metaprogramme (A. Attard and J.-B. Peltier) and the DREAM project supported by the AgroEcoSystem department (F. Rees).

Objectives

The main mission of PHARE is to lead an interdisciplinary community (physiology, pathology, chemical ecology, microbiology, physics, ecophysiology, modelling, etc.) whose research focuses on the role of rhizodeposits in the communication and interaction of roots with their rhizospheric biotic environment. PHARE provides a platform for the exchange of scientific and technological expertise with the aim of promoting interdisciplinary approaches to overcome obstacles and develop new concepts on the physiology, pathology and microbiology of rhizosphere communication and adaptation to environments. PHARE targets researchers, engineers and technicians working on rhizospheric communication, rhizodeposition processes and/or soil-borne diseases, and aims to build a complementary scientific community within INRAE departments (SPE, BAP, AgroEcoSystem and ECODIV), other research institutes and French universities. 
PHARE plans to organize a scientific workshop (12 to 14 November 2024). This will be synthesized by the scientific steering committee (SC) to define the emerging themes and draw up the program for the 2025 webinar. We will also organize two meetings, first for reflection (in 2024) and then for writing (in 2025), in order to finalize a review article, which will propose a practical and critical guide to the standardization of methods for collecting and analyzing rhizodeposits, which is necessary for functional analyses.

Involved research units and partnership:

Contact of the coordinator(s):