Climatic warming is often predicted to reduce wheat yield and grain quality in China. However, direct evidence is still lacking. We conducted a three-year experiment with a Free Air Temperature Increase (FATI) facility to examine the responses of winter wheat growth and plant N accumulation to a moderate temperature increase of 1.5°C predicted to prevail by 2050 in East China. Three warming treatments (AW: all-day warming; DW: daytime warming; NW: nighttime warming) were applied for an entire growth period. Consistent warming effects on wheat plant were recorded across the experimental years. An increase of ca. 1.5°C in daily, daytime and nighttime mean temperatures shortened the length of pre-anthesis period averagely by 12.7, 8.3 and 10.7 d (P<0.05), respectively, but had no significant impact on the length of the post-anthesis period. Warming did not significantly alter the aboveground biomass production, but the grain yield was 16.3, 18.1 and 19.6% (P<0.05) higher in the AW, DW and NW plots than the non-warmed plot, respectively. Warming also significantly increased plant N uptake and total biomass N accumulation. However, warming significantly reduced grain N concentrations while increased N concentrations in the leaves and stems. Together, our results demonstrate differential impacts of warming on the depositions of grain starch and protein, highlighting the needs to further understand the mechanisms that underlie warming impacts on plant C and N metabolism in wheat.

Root-associated microbiomes play significant roles in plant productivity, health and ecological services. However, our current understanding of the microbial assemblages in the rhizosphere and endosphere of herbage is still limited. To gain insights into these microbial assemblages, Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing was performed to investigate the characteristics of microbial communities of an herbage, Leymus chinensis. Hierarchical clustering analysis and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) results showed that microbial communities of the rhizosphere and endosphere samples were clearly distinguished. Rhizosphere soil communities showed a greater sensitivity than root endosphere communities using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe). Rhizosphere and endosphere communities performed their respective functions in the soil as a cohesive collective, and Rhizobiales were observed to function as generalists. Redundancy analysis (RDA) and variance partitioning analysis (VPA) results revealed that the contribution of the interaction between soil physicochemical parameters and soil enzymes was greater than their individual contributions. In summary, this study is the first to elucidate the microbial diversity and community structure of L. chinensis and compare the diversity and composition between rhizospheric and endosphere microbiomes.

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Soil microbial communities were investigated under the volcanic extreme environment. Soil bacterial networks exhibited higher stability than fungal networks. Holocene granite had a more complex microbial network than basalt. Soil pH and total protein were key drivers of microbial network stability.