Responses of Soil Rare and Abundant Sub-Communities and Physicochemical Properties after Application of Different Chinese Herb Residue Soil Amendments

Abstract

Microbial diversity in the soil is responsive to changes in soil composition. However, the impact of soil amendments on the diversity and structure of rare and abundant sub-communities in agricultural systems is poorly understood. We investigated the effects of different Chinese herb residue (CHR) soil amendments and cropping systems on bacterial rare and abundant sub-communities. Our results showed that the bacterial diversity and structure of these sub-communities in soil had a specific distribution under the application of different soil amendments. The CHR soil amendments with high nitrogen and organic matter additives significantly increased the relative abundance and stability of rare taxa, which increased the structural and functional redundancy of soil bacterial communities. Rare and abundant sub-communities also showed different preferences in terms of bacterial community composition, as the former was enriched with Bacteroidetes while the latter had more Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria . All applications of soil amendments significantly improved soil quality of newly created farmlands in whole maize cropping system. Rare sub-communitiy genera Niastella and Ohtaekwangia were enriched during the maize cropping process, and Nitrososphaera was enriched under the application of simple amendment group soil. Thus, Chinese medicine residue soil amendments with appropriate additives could affect soil rare and abundant sub-communities and enhance physicochemical properties. These findings suggest that applying soil composite amendments based on CHR in the field could improve soil microbial diversity, microbial redundancy, and soil fertility for sustainable agriculture on the Loess Plateau.

Recent Advances in Solid Residues Resource Utilization in Traditional Chinese Medicine

“…[30,32,36] TCMR compost is rich in microorganisms and nutrients that can increase the activity of soil microorganisms. [37][38][39][40][41][42][43] As a fungicide, TCMR can also promote plant growth. [42][43] Although composting has many benefits, it also has some drawbacks for the environment, like odor and greenhouse gas emissions.…”

“…As additions, TCMR, biochar, and vermiculite are often used [30,32,36] . TCMR compost is rich in microorganisms and nutrients that can increase the activity of soil microorganisms [37–43] . As a fungicide, TCMR can also promote plant growth [42–43] …”

Biogeography and diversity patterns of abundant and rare bacterial communities in paddy soils along middle and lower Yangtze River

“…Thus, delineating the differences between abundant and rare taxa is crucial for understanding the processes and functions of microbial communities in ecosystems (Jiao & Lu, 2020a). Previous studies have demonstrated differences in the biogeography, composition, and potential functions of abundant and rare microbial communities in various ecosystems, such as forests (He et al, 2023), farmlands (Chang et al, 2022), lakes , and deserts (Wang et al, 2021). In agricultural soils, for example, Zhou et al (2022) reported that the diversity of soil bacterial communities differed between abundant and rare subcommunities and that the potential functions of rare taxa were greater than those of abundant taxa in farmlands.…”

Traditional Chinese medicine residues promote the growth and quality of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge by improving soil health under continuous monoculture

“…Plant residues can have various positive effects on soil, such as increasing the organic matter content, improving physical properties, supplying nutrients, and enhancing beneficial microbial diversity and activity ( Tejada et al., 2009 ; Chen et al., 2016c ; Dignam et al., 2019 ). However, distinct types of plant residues may exhibit varying impacts on soil physicochemical properties and microbial communities due to their unique compositions ( Chang et al., 2022 ; Chen et al., 2022a ). TCMRs are plant residues left over after extracting active ingredients from medicinal plants.…”