Comparative Analysis of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Communities between Farmland and Woodland in the Black Soil Region of Northeast China

Shengqun Liu,Wenying Yang,Xiangnan Li,Fengbin Song,Mengjie Zhang,Xiancan Zhu

doi:10.3390/agriculture11090866

Abstract

The black soil region of northeast China is a critical production base for commercial grain in China. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are widely present in terrestrial ecosystems and play a vital role in ecosystem stability. Here, we investigated the diversity and composition of AMF communities in farmland and woodland from 20 sites in the black soil region of northeast China using Illumina MiSeq sequencing. The sequences were classified into 1 phylum, 1 class, 4 orders, 8 families, and 11 genera. Glomerales and Paraglomerales were observed as the most abundant order in farmland and woodland, respectively, and also belonged to abundant orders of the black soil region in northeast China, accounting for more than 90% of the total. Furthermore, Paraglomus, Claroideoglomus, and Glomus were the most abundant genera. Canonical correspondence analysis demonstrated the effect of soil pH, invertase, nitrogen, phosphorus, and soil organic carbon (SOC) contents on AMF community composition. Results from the correlation analysis revealed a reduction in AMF diversity with increases in SOC and phosphorus contents. These findings suggest AMF community composition varied with land use type (farmland and woodland), and provide a basis for protecting and utilizing AMF resources in the black soil region of northeast China.

Highlights

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ancient and ubiquitous soil microorganisms that form a mutually beneficial association with the majority of terrestrial plants [1]
As AMF are a kind of soil microorganisms that are beneficial to the soil and plant, it is a need to improve our understanding of AMF community composition variations in farmland and woodland, and to determine how their corresponding differences across contrasting soil environments can be employed for the effective utilization and protection of black soil resources in northeast China
Our results demonstrated that AMF α-diversity index and community composition were significantly affected by soil organic carbon (SOC) contents in both land-use types (Figure 3; Table S3)

Summary

Introduction

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ancient and ubiquitous soil microorganisms that form a mutually beneficial association with the majority of terrestrial plants [1]. AMF are symbiotic microorganisms that are not able to survive on their own and rely on living plants In such symbiotic relationships, AMF help their host plants to absorb nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus) while simultaneously obtaining the carbon source required from the hosts for their growth [2,3]. The reasonable utilization of black soil is beneficial in maintaining and improving soil fertility. As AMF are a kind of soil microorganisms that are beneficial to the soil and plant, it is a need to improve our understanding of AMF community composition variations in farmland and woodland, and to determine how their corresponding differences across contrasting soil environments can be employed for the effective utilization and protection of black soil resources in northeast China

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion