Intercropping with Potato-Onion Enhanced the Soil Microbial Diversity of Tomato.

Chunxia Li,Shaocan Chen,Xingang Zhou,Fengzhi Wu,Naihui Li,Danmei Gao

doi:10.3390/microorganisms8060834

Chunxia Li, Shaocan Chen + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8060834

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Journal: Microorganisms	Publication Date: Jun 2, 2020
Citations: 32	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Northeast Agricultural University

Abstract

Intercropping can achieve sustainable agricultural development by increasing plant diversity. In this study, we investigated the effects of tomato monoculture and tomato/potato-onion intercropping systems on tomato seedling growth and changes of soil microbial communities in greenhouse conditions. Results showed that the intercropping with potato-onion increased tomato seedling biomass. Compared with monoculture system, the alpha diversity of soil bacterial and fungal communities, beta diversity and abundance of bacterial community were increased in the intercropping system. Nevertheless, the beta-diversity and abundance of fungal community had no difference between the intercropping and monoculture systems. The relative abundances of some taxa (i.e., Acidobacteria-Subgroup-6, Arthrobacter, Bacillus, Pseudomonas) and several OTUs with the potential to promote plant growth were increased, while the relative abundances of some potential plant pathogens (i.e., Cladosporium) were decreased in the intercropping system. Redundancy analysis indicated that bacterial community structure was significantly influenced by soil organic carbon and pH, the fungal community structure was related to changes in soil organic carbon and available phosphorus. Overall, our results suggested that the tomato/potato-onion intercropping system altered soil microbial communities and improved the soil environment, which may be the main factor in promoting tomato growth.

Highlights

In greenhouse cultivation, the increase of the vast productivity in modern agriculture often comes at the price of sustainable agricultural development [1]
We found that the tomato/potato-onion intercropping system was a diversified cropping system with multiple agro-ecological functions, such as alleviating the incidence and severity of tomato verticillium wilt [16], increased the community structure and function of phosphobacteria in tomato rhizosphere, and promoted the P uptake of tomato [17]
Tomato seedlings grown in the tomato/potato-onion intercropping system had significantly higher shoot and root dry biomasses than tomato monoculture system (p < 0.05)

Summary

Introduction

The increase of the vast productivity in modern agriculture often comes at the price of sustainable agricultural development [1]. This is because modern agriculture can reduce biodiversity [2], which is the key factor influencing the functioning and stability of agro-ecosystems. Understanding the effect of intercropping management on plant growth and soil ecosystem can promote the development of new strategies for sustainable agriculture. As an important part of the agro-ecosystem, the soil microbial community can be driven by many biotic and abiotic factors, including soil chemical properties, plant functional diversities and management practices, i.e., cropping system, irrigation and fertilization [5,6]. Some taxa could directly or indirectly affect soil productivity by producing plant growth hormones, solubilizing soil P and enhancing nitrogen fixation [10], such as Bacillus [11], Pseudomonas [12] and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) [13]

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