Abstract
Soil microbial communities are involved in the maintenance of productivity and health of agricultural systems; therefore an adequate understanding of soil biodiversity plays a key role in ensuring sustainable use of soil. In the present study, we evaluated the influence of different cropping systems on the biodiversity of the soil bacterial communities, based on a 54-year field experiment established in Martonvásár, Hungary. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) fingerprinting technique was used to assess soil bacterial diversity and community structure in maize monoculture and three different crop rotations (maize–alfalfa, maize–wheat and the maize–barley–peas–wheat Norfolk type). No differences in richness and diversity were detected between maize monoculture and crop rotations except for the most intense rotation system (Norfolk-type). Although the principal component analysis did not reveal a clear separation between maize monoculture and the other rotation systems, the pairwise tests of analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) revealed that there are significant differences in the composition of bacterial communities between the maize monoculture and maize–alfalfa rotation as well as between wheat–maize and Norfolk-type rotation.
Highlights
Soil microorganisms play an important role in many soil processes, including carbon and nitrogen cycling, nutrient acquisition by plants, production of soil aggregates and the conversion of plant residues to soil organic matter [1]
Long-term monoculture and crop rotations caused no significant differences in soil pH
Long-term maize monoculture system significantly (p < 0.001) reduced the humus content, which correlates with decreased bacterial diversity, as found in the work of Zhao et al [28]
Summary
Soil microorganisms play an important role in many soil processes, including carbon and nitrogen cycling, nutrient acquisition by plants, production of soil aggregates and the conversion of plant residues to soil organic matter [1]. The presence of antagonistic microbes and the diversity of soil microbial communities contribute substantially to the resistance and resilience of ecosystems to biotic disturbance and stresses [2,3,4]. The composition of soil communities is affected by several factors like soil properties, seasonality or management practices [5]. Agricultural land management practices are one of the most significant anthropogenic activities that greatly alter soil characteristics, including physical, chemical and biological properties [6]. These activities are often found to decrease soil microbial diversity [7]. Long-term fertilization and cultivating methods have a significant effect on soil microbial community composition.
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