Influence of long-term fertilization on soil microbial biomass, dehydrogenase activity, and bacterial and fungal community structure in a brown soil of northeast China.

Hongzhi Bai,Xiaori Han,Yan Wang,Mei Han,Peiyu Luo,Ning Liu,Hui Shi

doi:10.1007/s13213-014-0889-9

Abstract

In this study, the effect of mineral fertilizer and organic manure were evaluated on soil microbial biomass, dehydrogenase activity, bacterial and fungal community structure in a long-term (33 years) field experiment. Except for the mineral nitrogen fertilizer (N) treatment, long-term fertilization greatly increased soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) and dehydrogenase activity. Organic manure had a significantly greater impact on SMBC and dehydrogenase activity, compared with mineral fertilizers. Bacterial and fungal community structure was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Long-term fertilization increased bacterial and fungal ribotype diversity. Total soil nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP), soil organic carbon (SOC) and available phosphorus (AP) had a similar level of influence on bacterial ribotypes while TN, SOC and AP had a larger influence than alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen (AHN) on fungal ribotypes. Our results suggested that long-term P-deficiency fertilization can significantly decrease soil microbial biomass, dehydrogenase activity and bacterial diversity. N-fertilizer and SOC have an important influence on bacterial and fungal communities.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13213-014-0889-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Our results suggested that longterm P-deficiency fertilization can significantly decrease soil microbial biomass, dehydrogenase activity and bacterial diversity
Fertilization usually strongly favors the accumulation of bacterial residues (Joergensen et al 2010; Murugan and Kumar 2013) and increases soil microbial biomass (Peacock et al 2001; Parham et al 2002; Kaur et al 2005; Ebhin Masto et al 2006)
Long-term fertilization resulted in significant differences in soil chemical properties (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

They are involved in key roles, such as soil aggregate formation, soil humus formation, nutrient cycling, decomposition of various compounds and other transformations (Lynch and Bragg 1985; Zak et al 1994; Wu et al 2011). Organic and inorganic fertilizers are primarily used to increase crop yield, and in short-term fertilizer experiments, they have no significant effect on microbial community (Crecchio et al 2001; Marschner et al 2001); in long-term fertilizer experiments, they can affect the function, community structure, and population of soil microorganisms (Marschner et al 2003; Cinnadurai et al 2013).

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Results

Conclusion