Effects of crop production practices on soil characteristics and metabolic diversity of microbial communities under winter wheat

Abstract

The aim of this research was to compare the effects of organic (ORG, no mineral fertilisers and pesticides) and conventional (CON, with mineral fertilisation and plant protection chemicals) crop production systems on some soil properties: soil organic matter (SOM) and particulate organic matter (POM) contents, dehydrogenase activity and metabolic microbial diversity (Biolog EcoPlate™). Samples of Haplic Luvisol soil were collected from 23-year-old experimental fields under winter wheat from the depth layers of 0–5, 5–10, 15–20 and 30–35cm. Soil under ORG showed higher contents of SOM, POM and POM expressed as a percentage of SOM by 16.0%, 25.6% and 23.9% respectively, in particular down to 5cm depth, compared with the CON system. Also, dehydrogenase activity was 47.5% higher under the ORG than the CON system. The Biolog EcoPlate revealed higher metabolic microbial diversity in soil under ORG crop production system compared with CON. This result was supported by the average well colour development and Shannon’s diversity index values. Significant correlations between soil quality parameters and winter wheat yield confirmed their effectiveness as indicators of soil disturbance. The results showed that the ORG system much better maintained SOM and soil fertility compared with CON.

Comparison of the Effects of Different Crop Production Systems on Soil Physico-Chemical Properties and Microbial Activity under Winter Wheat

“…The above findings are similar to the results published by many researchers, including [7,22,40], who found that organic management significantly increased OM concentration in surface soil compared with conventional farming system. Moreover, Sarkar et al [60] reported that OM concentration in soil within cultivated fields was significantly lower than within uncultivated fields and the decrease of OM was mainly due to the tillage practices.…”

“…The above findings are similar to the results published by many researchers, including [7,22,40], who found that organic management significantly increased OM concentration in surface soil The tilled soil under the ORG crop production system showed similar trends in OM content as non-tilled soil under PRG. At depths of 0-5 and 5-10 cm the OM content in soil under the ORG system and PRG was significantly higher compared with the CON system; however, no significant differences were found between ORG and PRG treatments.…”

“…The concentration of SOC influenced strongly physical properties measured with TP; chemical properties assessed as a content of POM, HS and its particular fractions and HWEC, and biological activity expressed as MBC and DH activity ( Table 6). The obtained correlations confirmed the strong mutual relationships within properties of the heterogeneous physical, chemical and biological soil properties, as was reported earlier [7,40].…”

“…Moreover, Alvaro-Fuentes et al [62] found higher POM content in soil under a no-till system compared to conventional management with moldboard plowing at a 0-40 cm depth. Furthermore, previous studies have reported significantly higher concentrations of POM fraction at a 0-5 cm depth in no-till soil compared with conventionally tilled soil [7,40,62,63]. It was proved that POM is associated with a multitude of processes and functions in soil, e.g., formation of soil microbial biomass carbon, humic and non-humic fractions, water soluble carbon and exocellular mucilaginous polysaccharides, and therefore has been recognized as an important parameter of soil quality [22].…”

“…The crop production systems differ in crop rotations and agricultural practices. More information is given in [7,39,40]. Table 1.…”