## 4 Discussion  
Soil microbiomes significantly boost their genetic potential, aiding in nutrient uptake, promoting plant growth, and increasing their ability to withstand abiotic challenges. _Striga hermonthica_ is an important yield-limiting factor of a number of staple crops, especially in developing nations such as Nigeria and South Africa. The two infested sites, which are located in the two countries, have some notable differences in their microbial communities. There are a few bacterial phyla in common, their relative abundances vary, and the similarities are mostly confined to the family level and higher. This emphasizes that different microbiomes with associated climatic and anthropogenic activities represent significant challenges to adaptation. Some phyla, such as Proteobacteria, Crenarchaeota, and Firmicutes are more abundant in Eruwa than in Mbuzini, and vice versa, suggesting a certain evolutionary conservatism in microbial niches. It is possible that many of these differences are due to climatic conditions and land use types on soil properties. Here, in this study, we employed shotgun sequencing approach to unveil the microbial diversity and composition within the maize rhizosphere infected with _Striga hermonthica_ from two locations with different weather conditions and land use types. The diversity and composition of the microbiome from the two locations are strongly influenced by soil pH, and it has been discovered that pH was primarily responsible for driving microbial community in agricultural soils [37; 38]. Some rhizosphere soil samples obtained from Eruwa (Es) showed that they had alkaline pH values, while others were acidic (Es1 = 6.8, Es = 7.5, Es3 = 7.1, and Ec = 6.1). This indicates that the soil pH is in the optimal range (pH 6-8) for microbial growth [39], and those soil samples of Mbuzini are \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Physicochemical Parameter** & **Contribution \%** & **Pseudo F** & \(p\)**-Value** \\ \hline Available Phosphorus & 86.0 & 22.0 & 0.006 \\ pH & 78.5 & 15.2 & 0.002 \\ Nitrate & 66.8 & 9.4 & 0.034 \\ Sulfate & 35.7 & 2.9 & 0.084 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Impact of environmental parameters on the microbiome composition of soil sample as depicted by the forward selection of environmental variables. Figure 7: The forward selection of environmental variables predicts the variance and influence on the microbial diversity as explain by canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). all acidic (Ms1 = 5.6, Ms2 = 5.4, Ms3 = 5.4, and Mc = 5.3) (Table 1). The soil acidification in Mbuzini may be a result of the intensive use of nitrogen fertilizers, which could be the main cause of the decrease in soil pH [40]. Our result is in line with those earlier reported by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [38] and [PERSON], et al. [41], in which soil pH played a significant role in defining microbial diversity by influencing the homeostasis of microbes or regulating the availability of soil nutrients. Furthermore, it has been established that the proliferation of soil microbiome is influenced by soil nutrient status [42]. It is observed that the microbial community composition is sensitive to the levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in soil [43]. Moreover, increasing N input suppresses the soil microorganisms in unmanaged ecosystems [44]. In this study, the high significant impact of organic carbon on soil samples obtained from Eruwa was in agreement with the results of other studies that showed that OC had the greatest effect on soil bacterial community structure [45; 46]. The presence of organic carbon also indicates that microbial communities exhibit a uniform distribution pattern regardless of soil water content and depth [47]. Furthermore, the majority of bacteria, fungi, and Actinomycetes are demonstrated to be positively correlated with soil organic carbon concentration [48].