Cover crop biomass and species composition affect soil microbial community structure and enzyme activities in semiarid cropping systems

Thapa, Vesh R.; Ghimire, Rajan; Acosta-Martínez, Verónica; Marsalis, Mark A.; Schipanski, Meagan

doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2020.103735

Cited by 91 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Soil microbial communities can secrete extracellular enzymes that take part in numerous soil processes (Brzostek et al, 2013). Among these enzymes, hydrolases are involved in C (e.g., β-glucosidases), N (e.g., β-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase and leucine aminopeptidase), and P (e.g., alkaline phosphatases) cycling and thus widely investigated in previous studies (Martinez and Tabatabai 1997;Roberts et al, 2007;Zhao et al, 2016;Li et al, 2019;Thapa et al, 2021). The activities of these enzymes can quickly respond to changes in microbial communities and environmental conditions, and are, therefore, considered as sensitive indicators of microbial dynamics and environmental changes (Bowles et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of Soil Microbial Community and Enzyme Activities to Shrub Species Artemisia gmelinii in Relation to Varying Rainfall in a Semiarid Land, SW China

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Widely distributed shrubs in drylands can locally alter soil physicochemical properties, which distinguish soil under plant canopy from soil outside the canopy. In the present study, we used a dominant shrub species Artemisia gmelinii in a semiarid land, SW China, to investigate the consequences of “shrub resource islands” for soil microbial communities and enzymatic activities. Such investigation was made at four sites that differed in rates of rainfall to examine how the consequences were altered by variation in the local climate. The results showed that A. gmelinii enhanced fungal abundance but did not influence bacterial abundance, resulting in higher total microbial abundance and fungal-to-bacterial ratio in under-canopy soil compared to outside-canopy soil. Microbial community composition also differed between the two soils, but this difference only occurred at sites of low rainfall. Redundancy analysis revealed that such composition was attributed to variation in soil water content, bulk density, and total phosphorus as a result of shrub canopy and varying rates of rainfall. Activities of hydrolytic enzymes (β-1,4-glucosidase, β-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase, alkaline phosphatase, and leucine aminopeptidase) were higher in under-canopy soil than in outside-canopy soil, among which C-acquisition enzyme, β-1,4-glucosidase, and P-acquisition enzyme, alkaline phosphatase, were also higher in the soil of high rainfall. The overall pattern of enzyme activities did not show differences between under- and outside-canopy soils, but it separated the sites of high rate from that of low rates of rainfall. This pattern was primarily driven by variation in soil physicochemical properties rather than variation in soil microbial community, suggesting that the distribution pattern of enzyme activities may be more sensitive to variation in rainfall than to shrub canopy. In conclusion, our study shows that shrub species A. gmelinii can shift the soil microbial community to be fungal-dominant and increase hydrolytic enzyme activities, and such effect may depend on local climatic variation, for example, rainfall changes in the semiarid land. The findings of this study highlight the important roles of shrub vegetation in soil biological functions and the sensitivity of such roles to climatic variation in semiarid ecosystems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of Soil Microbial Community and Enzyme Activities to Shrub Species Artemisia gmelinii in Relation to Varying Rainfall in a Semiarid Land, SW China

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

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“…and soil mineralizable N with the combined application of conventional tillage and no-tillage with crop residue incorporation condition (Pandey et al, 2014;Thapa et al, 2021). Rhizosphere is an important place for soil microbial activities; therefore, the rhizosphere soil N mineralization and its enzyme activities were usually regarded as important indicators for maintaining or increasing soil quality and fertility, which affect growth and crop yield (Jiang et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of different tillage management on rhizosphere soil nitrogen mineralization and its extracellular enzyme activity in a double‐cropping rice paddy field of southern China

Tang

Cheng

et al. 2021

Land Degrad Dev

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Soil extracellular enzyme activity plays an important role in regulating the process of nitrogen (N) mineralization in the paddy field. However, there is still limited information about how rhizosphere N mineralization and its extracellular enzyme activities respond to different tillage treatments in a double-cropping rice paddy fields of southern China.Therefore, the effects of 6-year (short-term) tillage management on rhizosphere soil acid hydrolysable N and its fractions, N mineralization, and its extracellular enzyme activities in a double-cropping rice paddy fields of southern China were studied and reported in this article. The field experiment included four tillage treatments: conventional tillage with crop residue incorporation (CT), rotary tillage with crop residue incorporation (RT), no-tillage with crop residue retention (NT), and rotary tillage with crop residue removed as a control (RTO). The results showed that rhizosphere soil total acid hydrolysable N and its fractions with CT, RT and NT treatments were higher than those with RTO treatment. Compared to RTO treatment, the rhizosphere soil total acid hydrolysable N content with CT and RT treatments was increased by 19.17% and 17.74%, respectively.Compared to RTO treatment, the rhizosphere soil aerobic and anaerobic N mineralization rates with CT and RT treatments were increased by 100.00% and 80.65%, and 43.02% and 33.72%, respectively. Rhizosphere soil extracellular enzyme activities with CT and RT treatments were higher than those with NT and RTO treatments. There was a positive correlation between rhizosphere soil amino sugar N, amino acid N, total acid hydrolysable N contents, L-glutaminase activity and N mineralization rate. The principal component analysis results indicated that rhizosphere soil organic carbon, amino sugar N, amino acid N and total acid hydrolysable N contents, soil β-glucosaminidase, β-glucosidase and L-glutaminase activities were the main factors affecting rhizosphere soil aerobic and anaerobic N mineralization rates. As a result, rhizosphere soil acid hydrolysable N and its fractions, N mineralization, and its extracellular enzyme activities were significantly increased under the combined application of conventional tillage and rotary tillage with the crop residue incorporation condition.

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“…Cool-season grass species including barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), oat (Avena sativa L.), and spring triticale (×Triticosecale Wittm.) are commonly planted as single species or in mixtures with spring pea, radish (Raphanus sativus L.), rapeseed [Brassica napus L.]), safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in the spring or early summer across the region (Calderon et al, 2016;Ghimire et al, 2019;Holman et al, 2018;Kelly et al, 2021;Liebig et al, 2015;Thapa et al, 2021). Summer CCs are usually warm-season grasses and broadleaves including sorghum-sudangrass (Sorghum × sudanense (Piper) Stapf), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L), sunflower, and sun hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.) (Sanderson et al, 2018).…”

Section: Cover Crop Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is possible that weed emergence patterns and species dominance could shift with CC integration. Improvement in soil biological communities with CCs (Table 2; Calderon et al, 2016;Thapa et al, 2021), could also result in seed predation and weed suppression. Both scenarios can reduce the weed seedbank.…”

Section: :0 Summary and Recommendations For Future Research Effortsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cover crops to improve soil health in the North American Great Plains

et al. 2021

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Rotating cereal crops [e.g., wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) with a 10-to 21-month summer fallow period (fallow) is a common farming practice in dryland (rainfed) agricultural This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. 2 regions. Fallow is associated with several challenges including low precipitation storage efficiency, depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC), loss of soil fertility, little crop residue retention and soil erosion, and few control options for herbicide resistant (HR) weeds. The inability to effectively control HR weeds poses a major challenge to maintaining soil and water conservation practices such as no-till, as some producers are considering tillage to control weeds. Cover crop (CC) integration into wheat-based production systems to replace portions of the fallow period provides an opportunity to increase SOC, improve soil fertility, suppress weeds, and increase profitability of dryland crop production, especially when CCs are used as forage. This forum paper used the North American Great Plains as a model region to review information on (1) challenges of dryland agriculture; (2) integrating CCs in dryland agriculture; (3) benefits, challenges, and limitations of CCs in dryland crop production; (4) management options for CC integration in dryland grain systems; and (5) recommendations for future research efforts. Abbreviations: CC, cover crop; HR, herbicide resistance; NT, no-tillage; SOC, soil organic carbon.

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Cover crop biomass and species composition affect soil microbial community structure and enzyme activities in semiarid cropping systems

Cited by 91 publications

References 43 publications

Responses of Soil Microbial Community and Enzyme Activities to Shrub Species Artemisia gmelinii in Relation to Varying Rainfall in a Semiarid Land, SW China

Responses of Soil Microbial Community and Enzyme Activities to Shrub Species Artemisia gmelinii in Relation to Varying Rainfall in a Semiarid Land, SW China

Effects of different tillage management on rhizosphere soil nitrogen mineralization and its extracellular enzyme activity in a double‐cropping rice paddy field of southern China

Cover crops to improve soil health in the North American Great Plains

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