Microbial communities of apple orchard soils receiving long-term copper fungicides

Abstract

Abstract-The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of long-term application of Cu-based fungicides on soil microbial communities using profiling of phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs). The results showed that the total PLFA, Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, fungal PLFA contents, and fungi/bacteria ratio varied among the orchard soils with different planting-time.Stepwise regression analysis between PC1 and PC2 scores for PLFA data and soil properties showed that the change of PC2 was mainly due to the available soil K (r = 0.84, p < 0.05), which suggested that soil fertilization could reduce the negative effects of Cu to the soil environment.