Abstract
Effect of crop row spacing on the belowground ecosystem, especially at an aggregate scale, remains unexplored. To explore how row spacing influenced nematode community and ecosystem function at the aggregate scale, four row spacings i.e. equidistant-row (ER, 50 cm-inter-row distance, 33 cm-intra-row between plants in each row) and non-equidistant-row including NR1 (100 cm + 50 cm row distance and 22 cm intra-row), NR2 (100 cm + 50 cm inter-row and 25 cm intra-row), and NR3 (60 cm + 40 cm inter-row and 33 cm intra-row) were compared, and four soil aggregate fractions i.e. >2 mm, 1–2 mm, 0.25–1 mm and <0.25 mm were separated. Row spacing did not impact C and N, but significantly influenced P. The regulation effect of acid phosphatase on soil available P was aggregate-scale dependent. Nematode faunal analysis indicated that NR3 within 0.25–1 mm was less disturbed or relatively undisturbed environments. Structural equation model showed row spacing pattern directly affected multifunctionality, while aggregate fractions indirectly contributed to multifunctionality mainly by regulating the richness of total nematodes and trophic groups. It was concluded that NR3 had potential to construct more stable food web, and therefore was possibly the suitable planting pattern.
Highlights
Effect of crop row spacing on the belowground ecosystem, especially at an aggregate scale, remains unexplored
Random forest analysis showed that β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG, 61%), available phosphorus (AP, 55%), total phosphorus (TP, 48%) and soil organic carbon (SOC, 31%) are the main contributors of multifunctionality (Fig. 2b, R2 = 0.78, P < 0.01)
As presented by hierarchical clustering analysis, the more nematode guilds with cp value 4–5 belonged to K strategists indicated a relatively stable environment under NR3 within 0.25–1 mm aggregate. This result was further confirmed by nematode faunal analysis, which suggested that there was less perturbation in NR3 within 0.25–1 mm. These results proved that NR3 had potential www.nature.com/scientificreports to construct more stable and structural food web, and possibly provided better ecosystem services and directly contribute to grain yield
Summary
Effect of crop row spacing on the belowground ecosystem, especially at an aggregate scale, remains unexplored. Many studies on the effect of row spacing on crop, light radiation use efficiency and soil nutrient and structure are well conducted, yet the effect of row spacing on soil biota communities remains unclear. Ecosystem functions such as soil organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling, are mainly dependent on soil biota, which are critical for crop nutrient uptake in agroecosystems[12]. We hypothesized that compared with equidistant-row (ER), non-equidistant-row (NR) may improve soil ecosystem multifunctionality, and soil nematode communities vary with different spatial scales (row spaces and aggregates), and their variation will correlate with multifunctionality based on soil indicators
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