INSIGHTS Contribution of the seed microbiome to weed management DM € ULLER-ST € OVER*, O NYBROE*, B BARAIBAR †‡ , D LODDO § , H EIZENBERG ¶ , K FRENCH**, M SØNDERSKOV †† , P NEVE ‡‡ , D A PELTZER §§ , N MACZEY ¶¶ & S CHRISTENSEN* *Department of Plant & Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark, †Plant Sciences Department, Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania, USA, ‡Department of Horticulture, Botany and Landscaping, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain, §Institute of Agro-environmental and Forest Biology, National Research Council, Legnaro, Italy, ¶Department of Plant Pathology and Weed Research, Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Newe Ya’ar Research Center, Ramat Yishay, Israel, **School of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia, ††Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Slagelse, Denmark, ‡‡Agroecology Department, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK, §§Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand, and ¶¶CABI, Egham, Surrey, UK Received 29 October 2015 Revised version accepted 25 May 2016 Subject Editor: Stephen Novak, Boise, ID, USA Summary Seed-attacking microorganisms have an undefined potential for management of the weed seedbank, either directly through inundative inoculation of soils with effective pathogenic strains, or indirectly by managing soils in a manner that promotes native seed-decaying microorganisms. However, research in this area is still limited and not consistently successful because of technological limitations in identifying the pathogens involved and their efficacy. We suggest that these limitations can now be overcome through application of new molecular techniques to identify the microorganisms interacting with weed seeds and to decipher their functionality. However, an interdis- ciplinary weed management approach that includes weed scientists, microbiologists, soil ecologists and molecular biologists is required to provide new insights into physical and chemical interactions between different seed species and microorganisms. Such insight is a prerequisite to identify the best can- didate organisms to consider for seedbank manage- ment and to find ways to increase weed seed suppressive soil communities. Keywords: weed control, seedbank, microbiome, bio- logical control, plant–soil feedbacks, soil microbial pathogens. M € ULLER-ST € OVER D, NYBROE O, BARAIBAR B, LODDO D, EIZENBERG H, FRENCH K, SØNDERSKOV M, NEVE P, PELTZER DA, MACZEY N&CHRISTENSEN S (2016). Contribution of the seed microbiome to weed management. Weed Research. doi: 10.1111/wre.12218. Introduction The production and survival of seeds represent the most significant components of fitness for many plants, and seedbanks in the soil are therefore important factors affecting population dynamics (Harper, 1977; Chee-Sanford et al., 2006). Seed persistence varies among plant species and habitat conditions, with Correspondence: Dorette M€ uller-St€ over, University of Copenhagen, Department of Plant & Environmental Sciences, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871 Frederiksberg, Denmark. Tel: (+45) 35331236; E-mail: dsst@plen.ku.dk © 2016 European Weed Research Society DOI: 10.1111/wre.12218