Variation of Soil Bacterial Communities in a Chronosequence of Rubber Tree (Hevea brasiliensis) Plantations

Abstract

Regarding rubber tree plantations, researchers lack a basic understanding of soil microbial communities; specifically, little is known about whether or not soil microbial variation is correlated with succession in these plantations. In this paper, we used high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to investigate the diversity and composition of the soil bacterial communities in a chronosequence of rubber tree plantations that were 5, 10, 13, 18, 25, and 30 years old. We determined that: (1) Soil bacterial diversity and composition show changes over the succession stages of rubber tree plantations. The diversity of soil bacteria were highest in 10, 13, and 18 year-old rubber tree plantations, followed by 30 year-old rubber tree plantations, whereas 5 and 25 year-old rubber tree plantations had the lowest values for diversity. A total of 438,870 16S rDNA sequences were detected in 18 soil samples from six rubber tree plantations, found in 28 phyla, 66 classes, 139 orders, 245 families, 355 genera, and 645 species, with 1.01% sequences from unclassified bacteria. The dominant phyla were Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Actinobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia (relative abundance large than 3%). There were differences in soil bacterial communities among different succession stages of rubber tree plantation. (2) Soil bacteria diversity and composition in the different stages was closely related to pH, vegetation, soil nutrient, and altitude, of which pH, and vegetation were the main drivers.

Soil Health Changes Over a 25-Year Chronosequence From Forest to Plantations in Rubber Tree (Hevea brasiliensis) Landscapes in Southern Côte d'Ivoire: Do Earthworms Play a Role?

“…A survey conducted at the onset of this study revealed that they only used inorganic fertilizers including urea and NPK as inputs in the early stages of the plantations to help trees grow smoothly. The chronosequence that is a set of rubber tree plantations in the landscape that share similar attributes but with different ages, was found to be most relevant approach in line with the objective of this study as the initial date of the disturbance and subsequent history of the sites were known (Walker et al, 2010;Zhou et al, 2017). The general assumption supporting chronosequence-based study uses natural forests as baseline ecosystems from which all man-made systems were at first derived.…”

Spatial Distribution Patterns of Root-Associated Bacterial Communities Mediated by Root Exudates in Different Aged Ratooning Tea Monoculture Systems

“…Our results showed no significant difference in the soil nutrients (N, P, and K).Only soil pH significantly decreased in the 30-year-old tea plantation when compared with the bulk soil and the two-year-old tea field, which resulted in lowering the abundance of rhizospheric microbiota, such as Actinobacteria , Cyanobacteria , Chloroflexi , and WD272 [ 35 ], and showed direct association with Nitrospirae , Gemmatimonadetes , and Acidobacteria. On the other hand, Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were the most dominant bacterial group present in the 30-year-old tea plantation [ 43 , 44 ], which may be because these bacterial taxa prefer to live in a root vicinity with nutrient deficiency, high soil moisture (MOS), and lower pH. Previous studies on bacterial communities have clearly shown that nutrient deficiency did not significantly impact the soil microbiota, however soil pH was proven to be the most influential factor in shaping the soil microbiota [ 45 , 46 , 47 ].…”

Reutilization of Green Waste as Compost for Soil Improvement in the Afforested Land of the Beijing Plain

“…The quantity and purity of DNA were checked by NanoDrop2000 spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA). The universal 16S rRNA gene primers 515F (5 -GTGCCAGCMGCCGCGG-3 ) and 970R (5 -CCGTCAATTCMTTTRAGTTT-3 ) were used for the amplification and subsequent high-throughput sequencing of the PCR products [33]. • C until halted by user.…”