Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1217966
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Straw mulch improves soil carbon and nitrogen cycle by mediating microbial community structure and function in the maize field
Author Liu, B.; Dai, Y.; Cheng, X.; He, X.; Bei, Q. ORCID logo ; Wang, Y.; Zhou, Y.; Zhu, B.; Zhang, K.; Tian, X.; Duan, M.; Xie, X.; Wang, L.
Source Titel Frontiers in Microbiology
Year 2023
Department BOOEK
Volume 14
Page From art. 1217966
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Supplements https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/file/downloadfile/1217966_supplementary-materials_datasheets_1_pdf/octet-stream/Data%20Sheet%201.PDF/1/1217966
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/file/downloadfile/1217966_supplementary-materials_tables_1_xls/octet-stream/Table%201.XLS/1/1217966
Keywords straw mulch; microbial community structure; carbon cycle; nitrogen cycle; carbon metabolism
Abstract This study was conducted to investigate the capability of the microbial community characteristics and soil variables to promote carbon and nitrogen cycles in maize fields under straw mulch. We covered the surface soil of the maize field with different amounts of wheat straw (0 kg/ha, 2,250 kg/ha, and 4,500 kg/ha) and used 16S rRNA and ITS sequencing, Biology ECO-plate, traditional enzymology, TOC analyzer, and HPLC to measure bacterial and fungal community composition and functions, characteristics of microbial carbon source metabolism, carbon and nitrogen fraction, enzyme activity, and organic acid content in the maize rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere. The results indicated that short-term straw mulch insignificantly affected the alpha diversity of bacterial and fungal communities whereas significantly influenced their beta diversity. The results of functional prediction revealed that straw mulch considerably boosted the relative abundances of bacteria belonging to chemoheterotrophy, aerobic chemoheterotrophy, ureolysis, and nitrogen fixation and inhibited fermentation and nitrate reduction in maize rhizosphere soil. These processes primarily drove the C and N cycles in soil. Straw mulch also improved fungal saprotrophs by raising the proportion of Chaetomiaceae and Chaetosphaeriaceae. The Biology ECO-plate results illustrated that straw mulch weakened the metabolism capacity of microbial labile carbon resources. As a result, the labile C and N fractions were raised under straw mulch. Our results also showed that straw mulch primarily regulated the microbial community structure in rhizosphere soil by significantly decreasing Firmicutes and Ascomycota relative abundance while increasing Basidiomycota. The fungal community structure is more than bacterial for affecting soil microbial biomass carbon, readily oxidizable organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, available nitrogen, ammonium, and nitrate directly and indirectly through malic acid content and cellulase, protease, and amylase activity. Overall, our findings imply that straw mulch might influence the bacterial and fungal community structures, thereby boosting the production of labile C and N components and accelerating the C and N cycle in maize fields.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=27502
Liu, B., Dai, Y., Cheng, X., He, X., Bei, Q., Wang, Y., Zhou, Y., Zhu, B., Zhang, K., Tian, X., Duan, M., Xie, X., Wang, L. (2023):
Straw mulch improves soil carbon and nitrogen cycle by mediating microbial community structure and function in the maize field
Front. Microbiol. 14 , art. 1217966 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1217966