Soil Microbial Indicators within Rotations and Tillage Systems.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Behnke GD
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8228827 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Changes in soil microbiotic properties such as microbial biomass and community structure in response to alternative management systems are driven by microbial substrate quality and substrate utilization. We evaluated irrigated crop and forage production in two separate four-year experiments for differences in microbial substrate quality, microbial biomass and community structure, and microbial substrate utilization under conventional, organic, and reduced-tillage management systems. The six different management systems were imposed on fields previously under long-term, intensively tilled maize production. Soils under crop and forage production responded to conversion from monocropping to crop rotation, as well as to the three different management systems, but in different ways. Under crop production, four years of organic management resulted in the highest soil organic C (SOC) and microbial biomass concentrations, while under forage production, reduced-tillage management most effectively increased SOC and microbial biomass. There were significant increases in relative abundance of bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, with two- to 36-fold increases in biomarker phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs). Under crop production, dissolved organic C (DOC) content was higher under organic management than under reduced-tillage and conventional management. Perennial legume crops and organic soil amendments in the organic crop rotation system apparently favored greater soil microbial substrate availability, as well as more microbial biomass compared with other management systems that had fewer legume crops in rotation and synthetic fertilizer applications. Among the forage production management systems with equivalent crop rotations, reduced-tillage management had higher microbial substrate availability and greater microbial biomass than other management systems. Combined crop rotation, tillage management, soil amendments, and legume crops in rotations considerably influenced soil microbiotic properties. More research will expand our understanding of combined effects of these alternatives on feedbacks between soil microbiotic properties and SOC accrual.
| S-EPMC4121199 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The data reported in this article is related to the research article entitled "Short-term effects of conservation agriculture strategies on the soil quality of a Haplic Plinthosol in Eastern Cape, South Africa" [1]. Standard soil extraction procedures and experiments were used to generate the raw soil indicator data [2] and the data was interpreted using the Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF) algorithms to evaluate the impacts of tillage practices, crop rotation sequences and residue management systems on overall soil quality. The SMAF-soil quality index (SMAF-SQI) was used as an indicator of overall soil quality. The soil indicator scores were processed and analyzed using the JMP statistical package [3]. The SMAF-scored data is made accessible for supplementary use and for advancing the understanding of the main findings of the related research.
| S-EPMC9301502 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The exploitation of soil ecosystem services by agricultural management strategies requires knowledge of microbial communities in different management regimes. Crop cover by no-till management protects the soil surface, reducing the risk of erosion and nutrient leaching, but might increase straw residue-borne and soilborne plant-pathogenic fungi. A cross-site study of soil microbial communities and Fusarium fungistasis was conducted on six long-term agricultural fields with no-till and moldboard-plowed treatments. Microbial communities were studied at the topsoil surface (0 to 5 cm) and bottom (10 to 20 cm) by general bacterial and actinobacterial terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analyses. Fusarium culmorum soil fungistasis describing soil receptivity to plant-pathogenic fungi was explored by using the surface layer method. Soil depth had a significant impact on general bacterial as well as actinobacterial communities and PLFA profiles in no-till treatment, with a clear spatial distinction of communities (P < 0.05), whereas the depth-related separation of microbial communities was not observed in plowed fields. The fungal biomass was higher in no-till surface soil than in plowed soil (P < 0.07). Soil total microbial biomass and fungal biomass correlated with fungistasis (P < 0.02 for the sum of PLFAs; P < 0.001 for PLFA 18:2ω6). Our cross-site study demonstrated that agricultural management strategies can have a major impact on soil microbial community structures, indicating that it is possible to influence the soil processes with management decisions. The interactions between plant-pathogenic fungi and soil microbial communities are multifaceted, and a high level of fungistasis could be linked to the high microbial biomass in soil but not to the specific management strategy.
| S-EPMC3497356 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study focused on the effects of organic and inorganic amendments and straw retention on the microbial biomass (MB) and taxonomic groups of bacteria in sugarcane-cultivated soils in a greenhouse mesocosm experiment monitored for gas emissions and chemical factors. The experiment consisted of combinations of synthetic nitrogen (N), vinasse (V; a liquid waste from ethanol production), and sugarcane-straw blankets. Increases in CO2-C and N2O-N emissions were identified shortly after the addition of both N and V to the soils, thus increasing MB nitrogen (MB-N) and decreasing MB carbon (MB-C) in the N+V-amended soils and altering soil chemical factors that were correlated with the MB. Across 57 soil metagenomic datasets, Actinobacteria (31.5%), Planctomycetes (12.3%), Deltaproteobacteria (12.3%), Alphaproteobacteria (12.0%) and Betaproteobacteria (11.1%) were the most dominant bacterial groups during the experiment. Differences in relative abundance of metagenomic sequences were mainly revealed for Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria and Verrucomicrobia with regard to N+V fertilization and straw retention. Differential abundances in bacterial groups were confirmed using 16S rRNA gene-targeted phylum-specific primers for real-time PCR analysis in all soil samples, whose results were in accordance with sequence data, except for Gammaproteobacteria. Actinobacteria were more responsive to straw retention with Rubrobacterales, Bifidobacteriales and Actinomycetales related to the chemical factors of N+V-amended soils. Acidobacteria subgroup 7 and Opitutae, a verrucomicrobial class, were related to the chemical factors of soils without straw retention as a surface blanket. Taken together, the results showed that MB-C and MB-N responded to changes in soil chemical factors and CO2-C and N2O-N emissions, especially for N+V-amended soils. The results also indicated that several taxonomic groups of bacteria, such as Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria and Verrucomicrobia, and their subgroups acted as early-warning indicators of N+V amendments and straw retention in sugarcane-cultivated soils, which can alter the soil chemical factors.
| S-EPMC4461295 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionConservation tillage is a widely used technique worldwide, but the effects of conservation tillage on bacterial community structure are poorly understood. We explored proportional alterations in the bacterial community under different tillage treatments.MethodologyHence, this study utilized high-throughput sequencing technique to investigate the structure and assembly processes of microbial communities in different tillage treatments.Results and discussionTillage treatments included tillage no-straw retention (CntWt), no-tillage with straw retention (CntWntS), tillage with straw retention (CntWtS), no-tillage and no-straw retention (CntWnt). The influence of tillage practices on soil bacterial communities was investigated using Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Different tillage methods and straw retention systems significantly influenced soil parameters such as total potassium and pH were not affected by tillage practices, while straw retention significantly affected soil parameters including nitrogen content, available phosphorus and available potassium. Straw retention decreased bacterial diversity while increased bacterial richness. The effect of straw retention and tillage on bacterial communities was greater than with no tillage. Phylogenetic β-diversity analysis showed that deterministic homogeneous selection processes were dominated, while stochastic processes were more pronounced in tillage without straw retention. Ecological network analysis showed that microbial community correlation was increased in CntWntS and CntWnt. Straw retention treatment significantly increased the relative abundance of bacterial taxa Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and OD1, while Nitrospirae, Actinobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia significantly decreased.ConclusionThe conservation tillage practices significantly affect soil properties, bacterial composition, and assembly processes; however, further studies are required to investigate the impact of different crops, tillage practices and physiological characteristics on bacterial community structure and functions.
| S-EPMC10433396 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Soil microorganisms are essential to agroecosystem functioning and services. Yet, we still lack information on which farming practices can effectively shape the soil microbial communities. The aim of this study was to identify the farming practices, which are most effective at positively or negatively modifying bacterial and fungal diversity while considering the soil environmental variation at a landscape scale. A long-term research study catchment (12 km2 ) representative of intensive mixed farming (livestock and crop) in Western Europe was investigated using a regular grid for soil sampling (n = 186). Farming systems on this landscape scale were described in terms of crop rotation, use of fertilizer, soil tillage, pesticides treatments, and liming. Molecular microbial biomass was estimated by soil DNA recovery. Bacterial and fungal communities were analyzed by 16S and 18S rRNA gene pyrosequencing. Microbial biomass was significantly stimulated by the presence of pasture during the crop rotation since temporary and permanent pastures, as compared to annual crops, increased the soil microbial biomass by +23% and +93% respectively. While soil properties (mainly pH) explained much of the variation in bacterial diversity, soil tillage seemed to be the most influential among the farming practices. A 2.4% increase in bacterial richness was observed along our gradient of soil tillage intensity. In contrast, farming practices were the predominant drivers of fungal diversity, which was mainly determined by the presence of pastures during the crop rotation. Compared to annual crops, temporary and permanent pastures increased soil fungal richness by +10% and +14.5%, respectively. Altogether, our landscape-scale investigation allows the identification of farming practices that can effectively shape the soil microbial abundance and diversity, with the goal to improve agricultural soil management and soil ecological integrity.
| S-EPMC6460278 | biostudies-other
Project description:Including legumes in the cereal cropping could improve the crop yield and the uptake of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) of subsequent cereals. The effects of legume-cereal crop rotations on the soil microbial community have been studied in recent years, the impact on soil functional genes especially involved in P cycling is raising great concerns. The metagenomic approach was used to investigate the impacts of crop rotation managements of soybean-wheat (SW) and maize-wheat (MW) lasting 2 and 7years on soil microbial communities and genes involved in P transformation in a field experiment. Results indicated that SW rotation increased the relative abundances of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, reduced Actinobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, and Chloroflexi compared to MW rotation. gcd, phoR, phoD, and ppx predominated in genes involved in P transformation in both rotations. Genes of gcd, ppa, and ugpABCE showed higher abundances in SW rotation than in MW rotation, whereas gadAC and pstS showed less abundances. Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Gemmatimonadetes played predominant roles in microbial P cycling. Our study provides a novel insight into crop P, which requires strategy and help to understand the mechanism of improving crop nutrient uptake and productivity in different rotations.
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Project description:Agricultural productivity relies on a wide range of ecosystem services provided by the soil biota. Plowing is a fundamental component of conventional farming, but long-term detrimental effects such as soil erosion and loss of soil organic matter have been recognized. Moving towards more sustainable management practices such as reduced tillage or crop residue retention can reduce these detrimental effects, but will also influence structure and function of the soil microbiota with direct consequences for the associated ecosystem services. Although there is increasing evidence that different tillage regimes alter the soil microbiome, we have a limited understanding of the temporal dynamics of these effects. Here, we used high-throughput sequencing of bacterial and fungal ribosomal markers to explore changes in soil microbial community structure under two contrasting tillage regimes (conventional and reduced tillage) either with or without crop residue retention. Soil samples were collected over the growing season of two crops (Vicia faba and Triticum aestivum) below the seedbed (15-20 cm). Tillage, crop and growing stage were significant determinants of microbial community structure, but the impact of tillage showed only moderate temporal dependency. Whereas the tillage effect on soil bacteria showed some temporal dependency and became less strong at later growing stages, the tillage effect on soil fungi was more consistent over time. Crop residue retention had only a minor influence on the community. Six years after the conversion from conventional to reduced tillage, soil moisture contents and nutrient levels were significantly lower under reduced than under conventional tillage. These changes in edaphic properties were related to specific shifts in microbial community structure. Notably, bacterial groups featuring copiotrophic lifestyles or potentially carrying the ability to degrade more recalcitrant compounds were favored under conventional tillage, whereas taxa featuring more oligotrophic lifestyles were more abundant under reduced tillage. Our study found that, under the specific edaphic and climatic context of central Belgium, different tillage regimes created different ecological niches that select for different microbial lifestyles with potential consequences for the ecosystem services provided to the plants and their environment.
| S-EPMC5474472 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The acreage planted in corn and soybean crops is vast, and these crops contribute substantially to the world economy. The agricultural practices employed for farming these crops have major effects on ecosystem health at a worldwide scale. The microbial communities living in agricultural soils significantly contribute to nutrient uptake and cycling and can have both positive and negative impacts on the crops growing with them. In this study, we examined the impact of the crop planted and soil tillage on nutrient levels, microbial communities, and the biochemical pathways present in the soil. We found that farming practice, that is conventional tillage versus no-till, had a much greater impact on nearly everything measured compared to the crop planted. No-till fields tended to have higher nutrient levels and distinct microbial communities. Moreover, no-till fields had more DNA sequences associated with key nitrogen cycle processes, suggesting that the microbial communities were more active in cycling nitrogen. Our results indicate that tilling of agricultural soil may magnify the degree of nutrient waste and runoff by altering nutrient cycles through changes to microbial communities. Currently, a minority of acreage is maintained without tillage despite clear benefits to soil nutrient levels, and a decrease in nutrient runoff-both of which have ecosystem-level effects and both direct and indirect effects on humans and other organisms.
| S-EPMC5108259 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Understanding the soil bacterial communities involved in carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling can inform beneficial tillage and crop rotation practices for sustainability and crop production. This study evaluated soil bacterial diversity, compositional structure, and functions associated with C-N cycling at two soil depths (0-15 cm and 15-30 cm) under long-term tillage (conventional tillage [CT] and no-till [NT]) and crop rotation (monocultures of corn, soybean, and wheat and corn-soybean-wheat rotation) systems. The soil microbial communities were characterized by metabarcoding the 16S rRNA gene V4-V5 regions using Illumina MiSeq. The results showed that long-term NT reduced the soil bacterial diversity at 15-30 cm compared to CT, while no significant differences were found at 0-15 cm. The bacterial communities differed significantly at the two soil depths under NT but not under CT. Notably, over 70% of the tillage-responding KEGG orthologs (KOs) associated with C fixation (primarily in the reductive citric acid cycle) were more abundant under NT than under CT at both depths. The tillage practices significantly affected bacteria involved in biological nitrogen (N2) fixation at the 0-15 cm soil depth, as well as bacteria involved in denitrification at both soil depths. The crop type and rotation regimes had limited effects on bacterial diversity and structure but significantly affected specific C-N-cycling genes. For instance, three KOs associated with the Calvin-Benson cycle for C fixation and four KOs related to various N-cycling processes were more abundant in the soil of wheat than in that of corn or soybean. These findings indicate that the long-term tillage practices had a greater influence than crop rotation on the soil bacterial communities, particularly in the C- and N-cycling processes. Integrated management practices that consider the combined effects of tillage, crop rotation, and crop types on soil bacterial functional groups are essential for sustainable agriculture.
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