Identification of Microbial Populations Present in Agricultural and Nonarable Soils in the Talas Valley, Northern Kyrgyzstan, in Autumn

Abstract

Soil bacterial and fungal communities were investigated in relation to soil type and farm management practices after vegetation harvesting in autumn. Soils from fields cultivated with Phaseolus vulgaris (bean) and Pyrus comminus (pear) and nonarable, natural areas were studied. Microbial diversity was analysed using cultivation-dependent methods (isolation of pure cultures) and cultivation-independent methods (direct extraction of DNA from soil, followed by PCR amplification of the 16S rRNA and 18S rRNA genes). The use of cultivation-dependent methods revealed that there were no differences in the biodiversity of the soil bacterial and fungal communities between fields cultivated with bean plants and pear trees. However, the use of cultivation-independent methods showed that there were clear soil and crop type-specific effects on the composition of the soil bacterial and fungal communities. The density of the bacterial population was two times higher in northern mountain-valley serozem (NMVS) soil samples than in light chestnut (LC) soil samples. In contrast, the densities of the fungal communities were almost equal in the studied soil types. The density of the actinomycetes community was almost two times higher in LC soil than in NMVS soil under bean plants. The Shannon index values showed that the bacterial biodiversity in the NMVS soil samples was greater than that in the LC soil samples. Soils under fallow appeared to have diverse bacterial communities that mainly consisted of local autochthonous microflora and a small amount of zymogenic microflora (since fresh plant residue does not enter the soil). The Shannon index results revealed two interesting facts: (1) the soil bacterial community was highly diverse in soils that supported bean plants and (2) the soil fungal biodiversity was high under pear trees in both soil types.