Long-term fertilization alters soil properties and fungal community composition in fluvo-aquic soil of the North China Plain

Abstract

Different fertilization regimes can substantially influence soil fungal community composition, yet fewer studies try to control for the effects of nitrogen input. Here, we investigated the impact of fertilization with equal nitrogen upon soil properties and soil fungal diversity and community composition in the North China Plain in a long-term field experiment. Long-term (32 years) fertilization regimes were applied with equal amounts of nitrogen: no chemical fertilizer or organic manure; chemical fertilization only; organic manure fertilization only, and; combination of 1/2 chemical fertilizer and 1/2 organic manure. Then we investigated the influence of these four fertilization regimes to soil properties, fungal diversity and community composition. The results showed that applying organic manure significantly influenced soil properties. Illumina MiSeq sequencing and its analysis revealed that organic manure fertilization significantly changed soil fungal alpha diversity, but chemical fertilization did not. Although soil fungal community composition did not differ significantly among all the fertilization regimes at the phylum and class levels, they did show differences in the abundance of dominant fungi. Yet at the genus level, soil fungal community composition, abundance, and beta diversity was affected by all fertilization regimes. Application of organic manure also reduced the abundance of soil-born fungal pathogens such as Fusarium. Our results suggest that long-term application of organic manure could markedly improve soil properties, altering soil fungal community composition and its diversity. Moreover, organic manure fertilization could limit soil-born fungal diseases, to further contribute to soil ecosystem sustainability.

Rhizospheric Fungal Diversities and Soil Biochemical Factors of Fritillaria taipaiensis over Five Cultivation Years

“…The reason may be the fertilization during the cultivation. Previous studies showed the fertilization can increase the richness of rhizospheric fungi [30][31][32]. Moreover, the sample Y4 had the highest Chao1 and ACE indices, indicating the maximal fungal species richness, which was consistent with the results in the Venn diagram (Figure 3b) and the clustering and NMDS (Figures 2 and 4) analysis: the rhizospheric soil with 4 years of cultivation had the most unique OTUs and its fungal community composition was different from the other samples.…”

Green manure incorporation accelerates enzyme activity, plant growth, and changes in the fungal community of soil

“…4a). Yao et al (2017) reported that changes in soil fungal community composition were closely related to soil nutrients in terms of enhancing the release of soil nutrients such as available N, P and K. In contrast, green manure provided several nutrients when it was incorporated into the soil, which enhanced fungal growth and led to noticeable improvements in soil fungal diversity (Wen et al 2020). Thus, incorporation of green manure into soil stimulated nutrient flux and increased fungal activity.…”

High variation of fungal communities and associated potential plant pathogens induced by long-term addition of N fertilizers rather than P, K fertilizers: A case study in a Mollisol field

“…To date, the majority of researches in this area have focused on the influences of organic and chemical fertilization on fungi (Ullah et al, 2019;Xiang et al, 2020). Applied organic fertilization generally has positive effect on fungal communities, such as increase of soil fungal diversity and decrease of the abundance of soil-borne fungal pathogens (Sun et al, 2016;Wen et al, 2020). Conversely, it was reported that the richness and abundance of soil fungi would be reduced, and the growth of potentially pathogenic fungi would be promoted following long-term addition of chemical fertilizers (Wang et al, 2018;Ye et al, 2020).…”