Industrial Effluents: Impact on Agricultural Soils and Microbial Diversity

Environmental degradation related to mining-generated acid mine drainage (AMD) is a major global concern, contaminating surface and groundwater sources, including agricultural land. In the last two decades, many developing countries are expanding agricultural productivity in mine-impacted soils to meet food demand for their rapidly growing population. Further, the practice of AMD water (treated or untreated) irrigated agriculture is on the increase, particularly in water-stressed nations around the world. For sustainable agricultural production systems, optimal microbial diversity, and functioning is critical for soil health and plant productivity. Thus, this review presents up-to-date knowledge on the microbial structure and functional dynamics of AMD habitats and AMD-impacted agricultural soils. The long-term effects of AMD water such as soil acidification, heavy metals (HM), iron and sulfate pollution, greatly reduces microbial biomass, richness, and diversity, impairing soil health plant growth and productivity, and impacts food safety negatively. Despite these drawbacks, AMD-impacted habitats are unique ecological niches for novel acidophilic, HM, and sulfate-adapted microbial phylotypes that might be beneficial to optimal plant growth and productivity and bioremediation of polluted agricultural soils. This review has also highlighted the impact active and passive treatment technologies on AMD microbial diversity, further extending the discussion on the interrelated microbial diversity, and beneficial functions such as metal bioremediation, acidity neutralization, symbiotic rhizomicrobiome assembly, and plant growth promotion, sulfates/iron reduction, and biogeochemical N and C recycling under AMD-impacted environment. The significance of sulfur-reducing bacteria (SRB), iron-oxidizing bacteria (FeOB), and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) as key players in many passive and active systems dedicated to bioremediation and microbe-assisted phytoremediation is also elucidated and discussed. Finally, new perspectives on the need for future studies, integrating meta-omics and process engineering on AMD-impacted microbiomes, key to designing and optimizing of robust active and passive bioremediation of AMD-water before application to agricultural production is proposed.

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Assessment of metal(loid) contamination and genotoxicity of agricultural soils

10.21203/rs.3.rs-213694/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Vaneet Kumar ◽

Sandip Singh ◽

Avinash Nagpal

Keyword(s):

Allium Cepa ◽

Irrigation Water ◽

Agricultural Soils ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽

Contamination Factor ◽

Pollution Assessment ◽

Industrial Effluents ◽

Soil Samples ◽

Strong Positive Correlation

Abstract Soil, a connecting link between biotic and abiotic components of terrestrial ecosystem, receives different kinds of pollutants through various point and nonpoint sources. Among different sources of soil pollution, contaminated irrigation water is one of the most prominent sources affecting soils throughout the globe. The irrigation water (both surface and groundwater) are increasingly getting polluted with contaminants such as metal(loid)s due to various anthropogenic activities. The present study was conducted to analyze metal(loid) contents in agricultural soil samples (N = 24) collected from fields along the banks of rivers Beas and Sutlej flowing through Punjab state of India, using Wavelength Dispersive X-Ray Florescent (WDXRF) Spectroscopy. The soil samples were also analysed for their genotoxic potential using Allium cepa root chromosomal aberration assay. The rivers Beas and Sutlej are contaminated with municipal and industrial effluents in different parts of Punjab. The soil samples analyzed were found to have higher contents of Arsenic, Cobalt and Chromium when compared with reference values given by various international agencies. Pollution assessment using different indices like Index of geo-accumulation, Enrichment factor and Contamination factor revealed that the soil samples were highly polluted with cobalt and arsenic. The Allium cepa assay revealed that maximum genotoxicity was found in soil samples having higher contents of As and Co. Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed strong positive correlation between the different metal(loid)s which indicated common sources of these metal(loid)s. Therefore, efforts must be taken to reduce the levels of these metal(loid)s in these agricultural soils.

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Evaluation of Changes in Glomalin-Related Soil Proteins (GRSP) Content, Microbial Diversity and Physical Properties Depending on the Type of Soil as the Important Biotic Determinants of Soil Quality

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy10091279 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 1279

Author(s):

Anna Gałązka ◽

Jacek Niedźwiecki ◽

Jarosław Grządziel ◽

Karolina Gawryjołek

Keyword(s):

Physical Properties ◽

Microbial Diversity ◽

Soil Quality ◽

Agricultural Soils ◽

Soil Health ◽

Physical Parameters ◽

High Biological Activity ◽

Physical Quality ◽

Soil Physical Quality ◽

Soil Proteins

The aim of the study was to evaluate the changes in glomalin-related soil proteins (GRSP) content, microbial diversity and soil physical quality depending on the type of soil measures of soil improvement and changes in soil health. The study was based on a 100-year stationary field microplot experiment where the soil profiles were collected with preserving the natural soil horizons. The microplot experiment was carried out on eight different soil types: Brunic Arenosol (Dystric I), Rendzic Leptosol, Fluvic Cambisol, Haplic Cambisol (Eutric), Gleyic Phaeozem, Brunic Arenosol (Dystric II), Haplic Cambisol (Eutric II) and Haplic Cambisol (Dystric). These soils are the most common types of agricultural soils in Poland. Relatively significant correlations with the soil quality, physical parameters and the glomalin-related soil proteins have been found. The study determined the total GRSP (T-GRSP) and easily extractable GRSP (EE-GRSP) levels in soils as well as the soil physical quality index and soil’s microbial biodiversity. The GRSP depended on the type of soil and correlated with S-Index and also was responsible for the unique chemical and physical properties of soils. Soils characterized by the highest T-GRSP content belonged to the group of very good and good soil physical quality characterized also by high biological activity, for which there were strong correlations with such parameters as dehydrogenase activity (DHA), microbial biomass content (MBC), microbial nitrogen content (MBN) and total bacteria number (B). The highest T-GRSP content and higher microbial diversity were found in Gleyic Phaeozem, Rendzic Leptosol and Fluvic Cambisol. The T-GRSP and EE-GRSP content were additionally correlated with the number of AMF spores. Very poor and poor soil physical quality according to S-Index characterized Brunic Arenosol (Dystric I) and Haplic Cambisol (Dystric). This research indicates that a specific edaphone of soil microorganisms and GRSP content may be of great importance when assessing a soil’s quality and improvements in soil health. The abundance of glomalin-producing fungi significantly affects the quality of the soil. This effect is particularly important for agricultural soils are threatened by ongoing land degradation.

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Correction: Microbial diversity and community structure in agricultural soils suffering from 4 years of Pb contamination

Canadian Journal of Microbiology ◽

10.1139/cjm-2020-0242 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 66 (7) ◽

pp. 456-456

Author(s):

Fengqiu An ◽

Zhan Diao ◽

Jialong Lv

Keyword(s):

Community Structure ◽

Microbial Diversity ◽

Agricultural Soils ◽

Pb Contamination

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Effects of Metal and Metalloid Contamination on Microbial Diversity and Activity in Agricultural Soils

Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer ◽

10.7745/kjssf.2011.44.1.146 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

pp. 146-159 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Sherlyn C. Tipayno ◽

Puneet S. Chauhan ◽

Sung-Man Woo ◽

Bo-Hee Hong ◽

Kee-Woong Park ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Microbial Diversity ◽

Agricultural Soils

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Subsoil Microbial Diversity and Stability in Rotational Cotton Systems

Soil Systems ◽

10.3390/soilsystems4030044 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 44 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Katherine Polain ◽

Oliver Knox ◽

Brian Wilson ◽

Lily Pereg

Keyword(s):

Microbial Diversity ◽

Root System ◽

Beta Diversity ◽

Agricultural Soils ◽

Soil Depth ◽

Alpha Diversity ◽

Agricultural Management ◽

Illumina Platform ◽

Evenness Indices ◽

Sample Time

Microbial diversity has been well documented for the top 0–0.30 m of agricultural soils. However, spatio-temporal research into subsoil microbial diversity and the effects of agricultural management remains limited. Soil type may influence subsoil microbial diversity, particularly Vertosols. These soils lack distinct horizons and are known to facilitate the downward movement of organic matter, potentially supporting subsoil microbiota, removed from the crop root system (i.e., bulk soils). Our research used the MiSeq Illumina Platform to investigate microbial diversity down the profile of an agricultural Australian Vertosol to 1.0 m in bulk soils, as influenced by crop system (continuous cotton and cotton–maize) and sample time (pre- and in-crop samples collected over two seasons). Overall, both alpha- (Chao1, Gini–Simpson Diversity and Evenness indices) and beta-diversity (nMDS and Sørensen’s Index of Similarity) metrics indicated that both bacterial (16S) diversity and fungal (ITS) diversity decreased with increasing soil depth. The addition of a maize rotation did not significantly influence alpha-diversity metrics until 0.70–1.0 m depth in the soil, where bacterial diversity was significantly higher in this system, with beta-diversity measures indicating this is likely due to root system differences influencing dissolved organic carbon. Sample time did not significantly affect bacterial or fungal diversity over the two seasons, regardless of the crop type and status (i.e., crop in ground and post crop). The relatively stable subsoil fungal and overall microbial diversity in bulk soils over two crop seasons suggests that these microbiota have developed a tolerance to prolonged agricultural management.

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