Effects of Drought on the Growth of Lespedeza davurica through the Alteration of Soil Microbial Communities and Nutrient Availability

Abstract

Lespedeza davurica (Laxm.) is highly important for reducing soil erosion and maintaining the distinctive natural scenery of semiarid grasslands in northwest China. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of drought (20% water-holding capacity) on biomass and its allocation, root characteristics, plant hormones, and soil microbial communities and nutrients after L. davurica was grown in a greenhouse. Drought reduced the total biomass of L. davurica but increased the root:shoot biomass ratio. In addition, drought altered the composition and structure of microbial communities by limiting the mobility of nutrients in non-rhizosphere soils. In particular, drought increased the relative abundances of Basidiomycota, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Coprinellus, Humicola and Rubrobacter, which were closely positively related to the soil organic carbon, pH, available phosphorus, ammonia nitrogen (N) and nitrate N under drought conditions. Furthermore, soil fungi could play a more potentially significant role than that of bacteria in the response of L. davurica to drought. Consequently, our study uncovered the effects of drought on the growth of L. davurica by altering soil microbial communities and/or soil nutrients, thus providing new insights for forage production and natural grassland restoration on the Loess Plateau of China.

Biomass Allocation and Competitive Ability of a Semiarid Perennial Grass and a Legume in Mixtures under Periodical Soil Water Decreasing Conditions

“…Following the optimal partitioning theory [39], plants would allocate more photosynthates to roots than to shoots to sustain water uptake when soil moisture is limited, which leads to a great RSR. This has also been observed in both species in this study (Figure 3 insets), which corroborates with several other studies focusing on the two species [32,40]. Furthermore, the increase of RSR was mediated by the mixture ratio and growth stage (Table 2), with more evident increases in L. davurica during all three growth stages (Figure 2).…”

Fungal community composition and function in different spring rapeseeds on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

“…Besides, the top twelve abundant genera and key genera showed a signi cant positive correlation with yield and SMC, and these results were further con rmed by seed germination tests (Table 2). The availability of soil water can alter the activity of soil microbes and nutrient transportation, subsequently in uencing the abundance and community structure of soil microbes, which, in turn, may impact plant performance (Duan et al 2022), which can lead to plant growth and aboveground defense improvements, ultimately in uencing the oilseed rape yield.…”

Nutritional response of sugar maple seedlings to water stress under highly nitrogen‐enriched soil conditions

“…Yet, droughts in temperate forests of eastern North America are expected to increase in frequency, intensity, and duration in the near future (Martin‐Benito & Pederson, 2015; Zhao et al., 2020). Pot experiments reporting significant effects of drought on the availability of macronutrients in the soil lasted over 100 days (Borken et al., 2006; Duan et al., 2022). The lack of difference in nutrient concentrations in the soil may also result from a decrease in seedling uptake capacity due to excess N in the soils (Sardans et al., 2008).…”