Organic fertilizer enhances rice growth in severe saline–alkali soil by increasing soil bacterial diversity

Abstract

The northeast region of China is an important grain‐growing area. However, severe soil salinization in the region impairs plant production. In the present study, organic fertilizer application (composted poultry manure) was evaluated as a potential strategy for remediating saline–alkali soil and promoting rice growth. Following continuous organic fertilizer application for 4 years, the contents of basic cations, including sodium (Na+) and chlorine cations (Cl−), decreased significantly (p < .05) (soil Na + decreased from 24.3 mg kg−1 to 21.8 mg kg−1 and soil Cl‐ decreased from 570.4 mg kg−1 to 38.5 mg kg−1), while soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), available nitrogen (AN) and available potassium (AK) were markedly increased (especially for soil AK, which increased from 85.8 mg kg−1 to 141.7 mg kg−1) compared to the treatment without organic fertilizer application. In addition, the relative abundance of plant growth‐promoting bacteria such as Thiobacillius, Methylobacter, Rhodoferax, Lysobacter and Flavobacterium increased significantly, whereas halophilic genera (Nitriliruptor, Mongoliicoccus, Litoribacter, Halomonas and Aliidiomarina) decreased markedly. Bacterial diversity also increased significantly, with data analysis suggesting that such shifts translated into more abundant plant‐growth‐related gene functions. According to structural equation modelling results, soil bacterial diversity was a key factor driving the maintenance of healthy plant growth in saline–alkali soil. These results suggested that organic fertilizers could improve the physicochemical properties of saline–alkali soil by altering interactions between rice plants and bacteria, for example, via the recruitment of specific beneficial microbial communities to increase their salinity–alkali stress tolerance, and, in turn, promote their growth.

Biochar and organic fertilizer amendments improved soil microbial biomass, soil quality, and wheat yield of saline-alkali soils in a three-year field trial

“…soil salinity-alkalinity and low soil fertility have been shown to have a negative impact on the growth and yield of crops (Zhang et al, 2021b;Zhou et al, 2021). In the present study, correlation analysis showed that SWC, SSC, and Na + were the key factors affecting wheat yield in saline-alkali soils, whereas soil fertility had no signi cant effect on wheat yield (Fig.…”

The Effects of Microbial Inoculants on Bacterial Communities of the Rhizosphere Soil of Maize

“…The TruSeq ® DNA PCR-Free Sample Preparation Kit (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA) was utilized in library construction, and the Qubit ® 2.0 Fluorometer (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and qPCR were utilized to quantify the libraries. Then, the libraries were sequenced at the Illumina MiSeq platform described as Zhang et al [32]. All sequence data were submitted to the Sequence Read Archive (SRA: SRP297881) and are freely available at the NCBI (BioProject: PRJNA685114).…”

Fatty acid and organic acid compositions of some Türkiye registered flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) varieties grown under alkaline soils

“…Herewith, as in saline-alkaline soils, salinity soil causes an account of high osmotic stress and ionic stress in plants, which leads to nutrient variability, but also reduces the photosynthesis capacity of the plant. As a result, it causes plant growth and development to stop (Zhang et al, 2022).…”