Comparison of soil microbial community catabolic diversity between rhizosphere and bulk soil induced by tillage or residue retention

The use of biological inputs in crop production systems, as complements to synthetic inputs, is gaining popularity in the agricultural industry due to increasing consumer demand for more environmentally friendly agriculture. An approach to meeting this demand is the inoculation of field crops with beneficial microbes to promote plant growth and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, the scientific literature reports inconsistent results following applications of bio-inoculant to fields. The effects of inoculation with beneficial microbes on bulk soil and rhizospheric microbial communities is often overlooked as precise monitoring of soil microbial communities is difficult. The aim of this research was to use Illumina high throughput sequencing (HTS) to shed light on bulk soil and rhizospheric microbial community responses to two commercial microbial inoculants coated onto fertilizer granules, applied to potato fields. Bulk soil samples were collected 4 days before seeding (May 27th), 7 days after seeding (June 7th), at potato shoot emergence (June 21st) and at mid-flowering (July 26th). Rhizospheric soil was collected at the mid-flowering stage. The Illumina MiSeq HTS results indicated that the bulk soil microbial community composition, especially prokaryotes, changed significantly across potato growth stages. Microbial inoculation did not affect bulk soil or rhizospheric microbial communities sampled at the mid-flowering stage. However, a detailed analysis of the HTS results showed that bulk soil and rhizospheric microbial community richness and composition were different for the first treatment block compared to the other three blocks. The spatial heterogeneity of the soil microbial community between blocks of plots was associated with potato tuber yield changes, indicating links between crop productivity and soil microbial community composition. Understanding these links could help in production of high-quality microbial inoculants to promote potato productivity.

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Impacts of bulk soil microbial community structure on rhizosphere microbiomes of Zea mays

Plant and Soil ◽

10.1007/s11104-015-2446-0 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 392 (1-2) ◽

pp. 115-126 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Matthew G. Bakker ◽

Jacqueline M. Chaparro ◽

Daniel K. Manter ◽

Jorge M. Vivanco

Keyword(s):

Zea Mays ◽

Community Structure ◽

Microbial Community ◽

Microbial Community Structure ◽

Soil Microbial Community ◽

Bulk Soil ◽

Soil Microbial Community Structure ◽

Soil Microbial

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Responses of the Soil Microbial Community to Salinity Stress in Maize Fields

Biology ◽

10.3390/biology10111114 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 1114

Author(s):

Yaling Hou ◽

Wenzhi Zeng ◽

Menglu Hou ◽

Zhao Wang ◽

Ying Luo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Microbial Community ◽

Salinity Stress ◽

Soil Microbial Community ◽

Bulk Soil ◽

Available Phosphorus ◽

Saline Soils ◽

Community Structures ◽

Soil Microbial Community Structure ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Positive Correlations

To investigate the diversity and structure of soil bacterial and fungal communities in saline soils, soil samples with three increasing salinity levels (S1, S2 and S3) were collected from a maize field in Yanqi, Xinjiang Province, China. The results showed that the K+, Na+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ values in the bulk soil were higher than those in the rhizosphere soil, with significant differences in S2 and S3 (p < 0.05). The enzyme activities of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), invertase, urease and catalase (CAT) were lower in the bulk soil than those in the rhizosphere. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) demonstrated that the soil microbial community structure exhibited significant differences between different salinized soils (p < 0.001). Data implied that the fungi were more susceptible to salinity stress than the bacteria based on the Shannon and Chao1 indexes. Mantel tests identified Ca2+, available phosphorus (AP), saturated electrical conductivity (ECe) and available kalium (AK) as the dominant environmental factors correlated with bacterial community structures (p < 0.001); and AP, urease, Ca2+ and ECe as the dominant factors correlated with fungal community structures (p < 0.001). The relative abundances of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes showed positive correlations with the salinity gradient. Our findings regarding the bacteria having positive correlations with the level of salinization might be a useful biological indicator of microorganisms in saline soils.

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