Peanut/Cotton Intercropping Increases Productivity and Economic Returns by Regulating Nutrient Accumulation and Soil Microbial Communities Under both Normal and Saline Soil Conditions

Abstract Background Intercropping has been widely adopted by farmers for it often enhances crop productivity and economic returns; however, the underpinning mechanisms from the perspective of belowground interspecific interactions are only partly understood especially when intercropping under saline soil conditions. By using permeable (100 µm) and impermeable (solid) root barriers in a multi-site field experiment, we aimed to study the impact of root-root interactions on nutrient accumulation, soil microbial communities, crop yield, and economic returns in a peanut/cotton intercropping system under non-saline, secondary-saline, and coastal saline soil conditions. Results The results indicate that intercropping (IC) decreased the peanut pods yield while increased the seed cotton yield, and consequently enhanced the economic returns compared with monoculture of peanut (MP) and cotton (MC). The higher accumulations of nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) were also observed in IC not only in the soil but also in vegetative tissues and reproductive organs. Bacterial community structure analysis under normal growth conditions reveals that IC dramatically altered the soil bacterial abundance composition in both peanut and cotton strips of the top soil whereas the bacterial diversity was barely affected compared with MP and MC. At blossom-needling stage, the metabolic functional features of the bacterial communities such as fatty acid biosynthesis, lipoic acid metabolism, peptidoglycan biosynthesis, and biosynthesis of ansamycins were significantly enriched in MP compared with other treatments. Conversely, these metabolic functional features were dramatically depleted in MP while significantly enriched in IC at podding stage. Permeable root barrier treatments (NC-P and NC-C) counteracted the benefits of IC and the side effects were more pronounced in impermeable treatments (SC-P and SC-C). Conclusion Peanut/cotton intercropping increases crop yield as well as economic returns under non-saline, secondary-saline, and coastal saline soil conditions probably by modulating the soil bacterial abundance composition and accelerating nutrients accumulation.

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The relative importance of rapid evolution for plant-microbe interactions depends on ecological context

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2014.0028 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 281 (1785) ◽

pp. 20140028 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Casey P. terHorst ◽

Jay T. Lennon ◽

Jennifer A. Lau

Keyword(s):

Microbial Communities ◽

Bacterial Abundance ◽

Rapid Evolution ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

Ecological Effect ◽

Ecological Context ◽

Ecological Processes ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Long Term Experiment ◽

Microbe Interactions

Evolution can occur on ecological time-scales, affecting community and ecosystem processes. However, the importance of evolutionary change relative to ecological processes remains largely unknown. Here, we analyse data from a long-term experiment in which we allowed plant populations to evolve for three generations in dry or wet soils and used a reciprocal transplant to compare the ecological effect of drought and the effect of plant evolutionary responses to drought on soil microbial communities and nutrient availability. Plants that evolved under drought tended to support higher bacterial and fungal richness, and increased fungal : bacterial ratios in the soil. Overall, the magnitudes of ecological and evolutionary effects on microbial communities were similar; however, the strength and direction of these effects depended on the context in which they were measured. For example, plants that evolved in dry environments increased bacterial abundance in dry contemporary environments, but decreased bacterial abundance in wet contemporary environments. Our results suggest that interactions between recent evolutionary history and ecological context affect both the direction and magnitude of plant effects on soil microbes. Consequently, an eco-evolutionary perspective is required to fully understand plant–microbe interactions.

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Development of soil microbial communities for promoting sustainability in agriculture and a global carbon fix

10.7287/peerj.preprints.789 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

David Johnson ◽

Joe Ellington ◽

Wesley Eaton

Keyword(s):

Plant Growth ◽

Microbial Communities ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

Soil Conditions ◽

Management Approach ◽

Total System ◽

Soil C ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Respiration Rates ◽

Agriculture Management

The goals of this research were to explore alternative agriculture management practices in both greenhouse and field trials that do not require the use of synthetic and/or inorganic nutrient amendments but instead would emulate mechanisms operating in natural ecosystems, between plant and Soil Microbial Communities (SMC), for plant nutrient acquisition and growth. Greenhouse plant-growth trials, implementing a progression of soil conditions with increasing soil carbon (C) (C= 0.14% to 5.3%) and associated SMC population with increasing Fungal to Bacterial ratios (F:B) ( from 0.04 to 3.68), promoted a) increased C partitioning into plant shoot and plant fruit partitions (m=4.41, r2=0.99), b) significant quantities of plant photosynthate, 49%-97% of Total System New C (CTSN), partitioned towards increasing soil C c) four times reduction in soil C respiration (CR) as F:B ratios increased, starting with 44% of initial treatment soil C content respired in bacterial-dominant soils (low F:B), to 11% of soil C content respired in higher fertility fungal-dominant soils (Power Regression, r2=0.90; p=0.003). Plant growth trials in fields managed for increased soil C content and enhanced SMC population and structure (increased F:B) demonstrated: a) dry aboveground biomass production rates (g m-2) of ~1,980 g in soils initiating SMC enhancement (soil C=0.87, F:B= 0.80) with observed potentials of 8,450 g in advanced soils (soil C=7.6%, F:B=4.3) b) a 25-times increase in active soil fungal biomass and a ~7.5 times increase in F:B over a 19 month application period to enhance SMC and c) reduced soil C respiration rates, from 1.25 g C m-2 day-1 in low fertility soils (soil C= 0.6%, F:B= 0.25) with only a doubling of respiration rates to 2.5 g C m-2 day-1 in a high-fertility soil with an enhanced SMC (F:B= 4.3) and >7 times more soil C content (soil C= 7.6%). Enhancing SMC population and F:B structure in a 4.5 year agricultural field study promoted annual average capture and storage of 10.27 metric tons soil C ha-1 year -1 while increasing soil macro-, meso- and micro-nutrient availability offering a robust, cost-effective carbon sequestration mechanism within a more productive and long-term sustainable agriculture management approach.

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Management and Soil Conditions Influence Common Scab Severity on Potato Tubers Via Indirect Effects on Soil Microbial Communities

Phytopathology ◽

10.1094/phyto-06-19-0223-r ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 110 (5) ◽

pp. 1049-1055

Author(s):

Emily W. Lankau ◽

Dianne Xue ◽

Rachel Christensen ◽

Amanda J. Gevens ◽

Richard A. Lankau

Keyword(s):

Microbial Communities ◽

Indirect Effects ◽

Common Scab ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

Farm Management ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Soil Conditions ◽

Potato Market ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Soil Bacterial

Common scab, caused by Streptomyces scabies and related species, is a potato tuber blemish disease that causes reductions in marketable yield worldwide. Evidence of suppression of common scab by indigenous soil microbial populations has been found in several studies. However, we lack a comprehensive understanding of how common scab severity relates functionally to potato varieties, farming systems, soil physical and chemical properties, and soil microbial communities. These factors may affect disease directly or indirectly by affecting one of the other variables. We performed a survey of 30 sampling locations across 12 fields in Wisconsin and used structural equation modeling to disentangle the direct effects of potato market classes, farm management (conventional versus organic), and soil physiochemical properties on common scab severity from their indirect effects mediated through soil bacterial and fungal communities. We found that, although potato market classes affected disease severity directly, the effects of farm management and soil physiochemistry were best explained as indirect, mediated by their impacts on soil bacterial communities. This suggests that evaluating the consequences of specific management practices for soil microbial communities may be useful for understanding disease pressure across fields.

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Distinct effects of short-term reconstructed topsoil on soya bean and corn rhizosphere bacterial abundance and communities in Chinese Mollisol

Royal Society Open Science ◽

10.1098/rsos.181054 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 181054

Author(s):

Zhenhua Yu ◽

Jian Jin ◽

Yansheng Li ◽

Yue Yang ◽

Yue Zhao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nutrient Cycling ◽

Microbial Communities ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Bacterial Abundance ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

Illumina Miseq ◽

Crop Productivity ◽

Soya Bean ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Topsoil Layer

Eroded black soils (classified as Mollisols) lead to a thinner topsoil layer, reduced organic carbon storage and declined crop productivity. Understanding the changes in soil microbial communities owing to soil erosion is of vital importance as soil microbial communities are sensitive indicators of soil condition and are essential in soil nutrient cycling. This study used the reconstructed facility with 10, 20 and 30 cm topsoil thickness under no-till soya bean–corn rotation in black soil region of Northeast China. Illumina MiSeq sequencing targeting 16S rRNA, q PCR and soil respiration measurement were performed to assess the changes in soya bean and corn rhizosphere bacterial communities, as well as their abundance and activities due to the topsoil thickness. The results showed that soil bacterial communities from both soya bean and corn were more sensitive to topsoil removal than to soil biogeochemical characteristics. Topsoil depths significantly influenced both soya bean and corn bacterial communities, while they only significantly influenced the bacterial abundance and respiration in corn. We also found that the topsoil depths significantly induced the changes in phyla and genera from both soya bean and corn rhizosphere bacterial community, which aid further understandings on how topsoil layer influences the global nutrient cycling of Mollisols by influencing the change in microbial communities.

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Soil Conditions Rather Than Long-Term Exposure to Elevated CO2 Affect Soil Microbial Communities Associated with N-Cycling

Frontiers in Microbiology ◽

10.3389/fmicb.2017.01976 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Kristof Brenzinger ◽

Katharina Kujala ◽

Marcus A. Horn ◽

Gerald Moser ◽

Cécile Guillet ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Microbial Communities ◽

Elevated Co2 ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

N Cycling ◽

Soil Conditions ◽

Soil Microbial

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Standing Vegetation Exceeds Soil Microbial Communities in Soil Type Indication: A Procrustes Test of Four Salt-Affected Pastures

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy11081652 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 1652

Author(s):

Péter Csontos ◽

Márton Mucsi ◽

Péter Ragályi ◽

Júlia Tamás ◽

Tibor Kalapos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Microbial Communities ◽

Life Histories ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

Chemical Properties ◽

Principal Component ◽

Procrustes Analysis ◽

Soil Conditions ◽

Habitat Conditions ◽

Soil Microbial

Organisms with different life histories are able to act as indicators of different characteristics of their environment. Here, we compared the precision of habitat indication by the vegetation and soil microbial communities in four salt-affected pastures: annual open salt sward, Pannonic Puccinellia limosa hollow, Artemisia saline puszta and grassy saline puszta. Dissimilarity of habitats was evaluated by standardized principal component analysis (PCA) based on four different datasets: catabolic profiles of microbial communities in June (a) and September (b), composition of vascular vegetation (c) and physical and chemical properties of the soil (d). Procrustes analysis was used to quantify the resemblance between pairs of PCA ordinations based on soil properties (d) and various biotic communities (a, b, c). PCA ordination based on vegetation most closely matched the soil data-based ordination, thus vegetation appears to better indicate habitat conditions than soil microbial communities do. For microbial communities, a better agreement with the soil data-based ordination was reached in September than in June. Most probably, the long-lived sedentary habit of perennial plants in these communities requires adaptation to long-term average habitat conditions. In contrast, short-lived soil microbes can quickly follow environmental changes, thus the composition of soil microbial communities better reflect actual soil conditions.

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Diversity of Soil Microbial Communities under Different Soil Salinity Levels Analyzing by PLFA

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.955-959.314 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 955-959 ◽

pp. 314-320 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Xin Li ◽

Yan Jiao ◽

Ming De Yang

Keyword(s):

Microbial Communities ◽

Soil Salinity ◽

Saline Soil ◽

Phospholipid Fatty Acid ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

Microbial Composition ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Salinity Levels ◽

Salinized Soil ◽

Soil Microbial Composition

Under different soil salinity levels, diversity of soil microbial communities from Hetao irrigated land of Inner Mongolia was studied by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis. The study found that PLFAs biomass in saline soil was significantly lower than those of strongly salinized soil and slight salinized soil. Microbes was bacteria-based from these soil. The bacterial PLFA loading in saline soil is significantly less than those of strongly salinized soil and slight salinized soil . Cluster analysis showed that changes had obviously taken place on soil microbial composition and quantity under different soil salinity levels.About 76.89% of variation in PLFA patterns explained by PC1(the first principal components),and 17:1, 16:0, 18:1w9c, 18:1w9t, 18:2, 18:3w3c, 12:0 were strongly negatively correlated with PC1.However,soil salinity and pH were positively correlated with PC1.We conclude that soil salinity has a profound affect on the microbial community structure.

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Plants species' influence on rhizosphere microbial communities depends on N availability

10.1101/2021.11.23.469737 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Teal S Potter ◽

Amber C Churchill ◽

William D Bowman ◽

Brian L Anacker

Keyword(s):

Microbial Community ◽

Microbial Communities ◽

Plant Species ◽

Soil Microbes ◽

Plant Traits ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

Community Change ◽

Soil Conditions ◽

Growth Responses ◽

Soil Microbial

Purpose: Plants and soil microbes both influence how ecosystems respond to environmental change. Yet, we lack the ability to generalize how plants and soil microbes influence each other in the same or varying soil conditions. This limitation thwarts ecologists' ability to understand and predict effects of environmental changes such and elevated anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition. Accordingly, we examined the specificity of plant species' influence on soil microbial community composition. Methods: We tested (1) whether congeneric grass species have unique effects on soil microbial communities, (2) how relative abundances of microbial taxa can be explained by Poa phylogeny, plant traits, and range-wide traits (annual temperature and soil pH), and (3) whether N addition alters associations between Poa species and soil microbes, and (4) whether the magnitude of microbial community change in response to elevated N can be explained by plant growth responses to N. We conducted a greenhouse experiment with seven Poa species and native soils. Results: We found that individual Poa species were associated with different soil fungi but similar soil bacteria. Differences in microbial composition were not attributable to Poa phylogeny, plant traits, or range-wide traits. Nitrogen addition enhanced the unique effects of Poa species on fungal and bacterial community compositions. Conclusion: These results demonstrate how ecological interactions of related plant species vary depending on resource supply, revealing important context dependency for accurately predicting microbially-mediated nutrient cycling and ecosystem responses to changes in nutrient availability.

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Biochar affects the structure rather than the total biomass of microbial communities in temperate soils

Agricultural and Food Science ◽

10.23986/afsci.8095 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. 404-423 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Elena Anders ◽

Andrea Watzinger ◽

Franziska Rempt ◽

Barbara Kitzler ◽

Bernhard Wimmer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Community Structure ◽

Microbial Biomass ◽

Microbial Communities ◽

Field Experiments ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

Greenhouse Experiment ◽

Soil Conditions ◽

Total Biomass ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Temperate Soils

Biochar application is a promising strategy for sequestering carbon in agricultural soils and for improving degraded soils. Nonetheless, contradictory and unsettled issues remain. This study investigates whether biochar influences the soil microbial biomass and community structure using phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis. We monitored the effects of four different types of biochar on the soil microbial communities in three temperate soils of Austria over several months. A greenhouse experiment and two field experiments were conducted. The biochar application did not significantly increase or decrease the microbial biomass. Only the addition of vineyard pruning biochar pyrolysed at 400°C caused microbial biomass to increase in the greenhouse experiment. The biochar treatments however caused shifts in microbial communities (visualized by principal component analysis). We concluded that the shifts in the microbial community structure are an indirect rather than a direct effect and depend on soil conditions and nutrient status.

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Metagenomic analysis exploring taxonomic and functional diversity of soil microbial communities in Chilean vineyards and surrounding native forests

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.3098 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. e3098 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

Luis E. Castañeda ◽

Olga Barbosa

Keyword(s):

Microbial Communities ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

Soil Conditions ◽

Native Forest ◽

Natural Habitats ◽

Wine Production ◽

Soil Biodiversity ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Native Forests ◽

Vineyard Soils

Mediterranean biomes are biodiversity hotspots, and vineyards are important components of the Mediterranean landscape. Over the last few decades, the amount of land occupied by vineyards has augmented rapidly, thereby increasing threats to Mediterranean ecosystems. Land use change and agricultural management have important effects on soil biodiversity, because they change the physical and chemical properties of soil. These changes may also have consequences on wine production considering that soil is a key component ofterroir. Here, we describe the taxonomic diversity and metabolic functions of bacterial and fungal communities present in forest and vineyard soils in Chile. To accomplish this goal, we collected soil samples from organic vineyards in central Chile and employed a shotgun metagenomic approach to sequence the microbial DNA. Additionally, we studied the surrounding native forest to obtain a baseline of the soil conditions in the area prior to the establishment of the vineyard. Our metagenomic analyses revealed that both habitats shared most of the soil microbial species. The most abundant genera in the two habitats were the bacteriaCandidatus SolibacterandBradyrhizobiumand the fungusGibberella. Our results suggest that the soil microbial communities are similar in these forests and vineyards. Therefore, we hypothesize that native forests surrounding the vineyards may be acting as a microbial reservoir buffering the effects of the land conversion. Regarding the metabolic diversity, we found that genes pertaining to the metabolism of amino acids, fatty acids, and nucleotides as well as genes involved in secondary metabolism were enriched in forest soils. On the other hand, genes related to miscellaneous functions were more abundant in vineyard soils. These results suggest that the metabolic function of microbes found in these habitats differs, though differences are not related to taxonomy. Finally, we propose that the implementation of environmentally friendly practices by the wine industry may help to maintain the microbial diversity and ecosystem functions associated with natural habitats.

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