Abstract
Farmland consolidation is an effective tool to improve farmland infrastructures, soil quality, and sustain a healthy farmland ecosystem and rural population, generating contributions to food security and regional sustainable development. Previous studies showed that farmland consolidation regulates soil physical and chemical properties. Soil microorganisms also play an important role in soil health and crop performance; however, few studies reported how farmland consolidation influence soil microecology. Here, we used DNA sequencing technology to compare bacterial community structure in farmlands with and without consolidation. DNA sequencing technology is the most advanced technology used to obtain biological information in the world, and it has been widely used in the research of soil micro-ecological environment. In September 2018, we collected soil samples in Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province, China, and used DNA sequence technology to compare the bacterial community structure in farmlands with and without consolidation. Our results found that (1) farmland consolidation had significant impacts on soil microbial characteristics, which were mainly manifested as changes in microbial biomass, microbial diversity and community structure. Farmland consolidation can increase the relative abundance of the three dominant bacteria phyla and the three fungal dominant phyla, but it also negatively affects the relative abundance of the six dominant bacteria phyla and the three fungal dominant phyla. (2) Farmland consolidation had an indirect impact on soil bacterial community structure by adjusting the soil physical and chemical properties. (3) The impact of heavy metals on bacterial community structure varied significantly under different levels of heavy metal pollution in farmland consolidation areas. There were 6, 3, 3, and 5 bacterial genera that had significant correlations with heavy metal content in cultivated land with low pollution, light pollution, medium pollution, and heavy pollution, respectively. The number of heavy metal-tolerant bacteria in the soil generally increased first and then decreased under heavy metal polluted conditions. Our study untangled the relationship between varied farmland consolidation strategies and bacteria through soil physcicochemical properties and metal pollution conditions. Our results can guide farmland consolidation strategies and sustain soil health and ecological balance in agriculture.
Highlights
Introduction distributed under the terms andFarmland consolidation is an effective means to improve farmland infrastructure, improve farmland quality, and protect farmland ecology [1,2]
This article selected bacteria to represent soil microorganisms for analysis to determine the degree of impact of different farmland consolidation measures on soil microbial diversity
Our results showed that the application of organic fertilizers in farmland consolidation areas could effectively improve soil nutrients, and the construction of ditches accelerates the flow of water to promote nutrient cycling, thereby creating a healthy soil environment to accelerate the promotion of microorganisms in soil nutrient cycling, and achieve benign cycle
Summary
As an engineering method that directly affects arable land, farmland consolidation regulates arable land morphology, land landscape, soil properties, and fertility through measures such as building ditches, merging plots, land levelling, and applying organic fertilizers, combined or respectively [34]. Farmland consolidation is an engineering method that directly affects the soil, including multiple methods such as building ditches, merging plots, land levelling, and applying organic fertilizers. This has a direct effect on the physical and chemical properties of the soil, and it will directly or indirectly affect the quantity and community structure of soil microorganisms (Figure 1). Through the implementation of mechanical engineering, farmland consolidation can reclaim non-agricultural land into cultivated land, and the infrastructure conditions of agricultural land can be improved through consolidation projects The former can lead to heavy metals residue from mines, factories and other lands, and enter the soil to cause pollution.
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