Changes in Soil Microbial Activity, Bacterial Community Composition and Function in a Long-Term Continuous Soybean Cropping System After Corn Insertion and Fertilization

Abstract

Corn-soybean rotation and fertilization are common practices improving soil fertility and crop yield. Their effects on bacterial community have been extensively studied, yet, few comprehensive studies about the microbial activity, bacterial community and functional groups in a long-term continuous soybean cropping system after corn insertion and fertilization. The effects of corn insertions (Sm: no corn insertion, CS: 3 cycles of corn-soybean rotations and CCS: 2 cycles of corn-corn-soybean rotations) with two fertilization regimes (No fertilization and NPK) on bacterial community and microbial activity were investigated in a long-term field experiment. The bacterial communities among treatments were evaluated using high-throughput sequencing then bacterial functions were predicted based on the FaProTax database. Soil respiration and extracellular enzyme activities were used to assess soil microbial activity. Soil bacterial community structure was significantly altered by corn insertions (p < 0.01) and fertilization (p < 0.01), whereas bacterial functional structure was only affected by corn insertion (p < 0.01). The activities of four enzymes (invertase, β-glucosidase, β-xylosidase, and β-D-1,4-cellobiohydrolase) involved in soil C cycling were enhanced by NPK fertilizer, and were also enhanced by corn insertions except for the invertase and β-xylosidase under NPK fertilization. NPK fertilizer significantly improved soil microbial activity except for soil metabolic quotient (qCO2) and the microbial quotient under corn insertions. Corn insertions also significantly improved soil microbial activity except for the ratio of soil induced respiration (SIR) to basal respiration (BR) under fertilization and the qCO2 was decreased by corn insertions. These activity parameters were highly correlated with the soil functional capability of aromatic compound degradation, which was the main predictors of bacterial functional structure. In general, the combination of soil microbial activity, bacterial community and corresponding functional analysis provided comprehensive insights into compositional and functional adaptations to corn insertions and fertilization.

The Application of Mixed Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers Drives Soil Nutrient and Bacterial Community Changes in Teak Plantations

“…In the present study, although fertilization had no effect on the alpha diversity of bacteria ( Figure 1 ), significant differences were revealed in bacterial community structure among the different treatments ( p < 0.01, Figure S2 ). Acidobacteria and Proteobacteria were two of the most abundant phyla observed in the bacterial community, as shown in previous studies [ 77 , 78 ]. Both of them can properly enhance soil fertility and sustainability when they were enriched in soil [ 60 ].…”

Effects of the Long-Term Continuous Cropping of Yongfeng Yam on the Bacterial Community and Function in the Rhizospheric Soil

“…Shao et al found that the AP and AK contents increased significantly with increasing continuous cropping of peanuts [ 53 ]. It was reported that the overuse of inorganic fertilizer significantly decreased soil pH [ 54 ], which was confirmed in our study. Soil pH is a key factor affecting soil bacterial diversity and community composition; soil pH affects soil microbial physiological metabolism, alters the competitive relationship within microbial communities, and inhibits the growth of unadapted microbes [ 10 , 38 ].…”

Continuous-cropping-tolerant soybean cultivars alleviate continuous cropping obstacles by improving structure and function of rhizosphere microorganisms

“…Microorganisms in the phyla Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria usually accounted for most of the soil bacterial communities ( Fierer et al, 2007 ; Rao et al, 2021 ). Among the soil bacteria, Proteobacteria , Acidobacteriota , Actinobacteria , Bacteroidota , Gemmatimonadetes were the dominant phyla, and L14 showed significantly higher relative abundance of soil beneficial bacteria ( Proteobacteria , Bacteroidota , Acidobacteriota , Verrucomicrobiota ) than L10.…”