Abstract
The long-term application of excessive chemical fertilizers has resulted in the degeneration of soil quality parameters such as soil microbial biomass, communities, and nutrient content, which in turn affects crop health, productivity, and soil sustainable productivity. The objective of this study was to develop a rapid and efficient solution for rehabilitating degraded cropland soils by precisely quantifying soil quality parameters through the application of manure compost and bacteria fertilizers or its combination during maize growth. We investigated dynamic impacts on soil microbial count, biomass, basal respiration, community structure diversity, and enzyme activity using six different treatments [no fertilizer (CK), N fertilizer (N), N fertilizer + bacterial fertilizer (NB), manure compost (M), manure compost + bacterial fertilizer (MB), and bacterial fertilizer (B)] in the plowed layer (0–20 cm) of potted soil during various maize growth stages in a temperate cropland of eastern China. Denaturing gradient electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprinting analysis showed that the structure and composition of bacterial and fungi communities in the six fertilizer treatments varied at different levels. The Shannon index of bacterial and fungi communities displayed the highest value in the MB treatments and the lowest in the N treatment at the maize mature stage. Changes in soil microorganism community structure and diversity after different fertilizer treatments resulted in different microbial properties. Adding manure compost significantly increased the amount of cultivable microorganisms and microbial biomass, thus enhancing soil respiration and enzyme activities (p<0.01), whereas N treatment showed the opposite results (p<0.01). However, B and NB treatments minimally increased the amount of cultivable microorganisms and microbial biomass, with no obvious influence on community structure and soil enzymes. Our findings indicate that the application of manure compost plus bacterial fertilizers can immediately improve the microbial community structure and diversity of degraded cropland soils.
Highlights
Chemical fertilizers have been extensively applied to sustain global agricultural production since the first Green Revolution [1,2]
Microbial biomass C (MBC) significantly increased in the fertilization treatments against their controls (CK) (p,0.01) during the whole maize growth stage, with the largest increment of MBC occurring consistently in the MB treatment
Compared with the CK treatment, all fertilizer treatments showed significantly higher MBN, and this was greater in the M and MB treatments than in the N and NB or B treatments (p,0.01)
Summary
Chemical fertilizers have been extensively applied to sustain global agricultural production since the first Green Revolution [1,2]. On one hand, the production and use of these chemicals impart various negative effects on the agricultural ecosystem such as degradation of the soil, loss of crop genetic diversity, reduction in soil microbial diversity, contamination of ground-water resources, and pollution of the atmosphere [3,4]. The addition of manure compost can increase the levels of organic matter and improve soil porosity, structural stability, moisture, and nutrient availability, as well as biological activity [7,8]. It is becoming a more popular practice to add manure compost to the soils if the degraded cropland is considered to be restored
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