Effects of Sugarcane Ratooning Cultivation on the Alteration of Bacterial Communities in the Rhizosphere Soil

Abstract

Multiple sugarcane ratooning cultivation is a common agricultural system in the south of China, and induces the decline of sugarcane productivity every year. This phenomenon may be caused by the alteration of rhizosphere soil microbial communities under different cropping pattern. In this study, T-RFLP was used to analyze the alteration of soil microbial communities in blank soil, new sugarcane planting soil and 1 year of sugarcane ratooning soil on which sugarcane cultivar Funong28 was planted. Based on experimental results, it was suggested that different cropping patterns had different effects on the structure of rhizosphere bacterial community. In first year of Funong28 ratooning soil, the diversity of microbial communities decreased, and some communities involved in basic metabolic processes and beneficial communities declined. It implied that sugarcane ratooning cultivation induced deterioration of soil ecological environment, minimizes the beneficial bacterial population and increases the availability of pathogens. Good farming patterns must be used to improve soil physical and chemical properties of soil, and promote development of beneficial bacterial communities in sugarcane ratooning cultivation.