Abstract
Different fertilization regimes can substantially influence soil fungal community composition, yet fewer studies try to control for the effects of nitrogen input. Here, we investigated the impact of fertilization with equal nitrogen upon soil properties and soil fungal diversity and community composition in the North China Plain in a long-term field experiment. Long-term (32 years) fertilization regimes were applied with equal amounts of nitrogen: no chemical fertilizer or organic manure; chemical fertilization only; organic manure fertilization only, and; combination of 1/2 chemical fertilizer and 1/2 organic manure. Then we investigated the influence of these four fertilization regimes to soil properties, fungal diversity and community composition. The results showed that applying organic manure significantly influenced soil properties. Illumina MiSeq sequencing and its analysis revealed that organic manure fertilization significantly changed soil fungal alpha diversity, but chemical fertilization did not. Although soil fungal community composition did not differ significantly among all the fertilization regimes at the phylum and class levels, they did show differences in the abundance of dominant fungi. Yet at the genus level, soil fungal community composition, abundance, and beta diversity was affected by all fertilization regimes. Application of organic manure also reduced the abundance of soil-born fungal pathogens such as Fusarium. Our results suggest that long-term application of organic manure could markedly improve soil properties, altering soil fungal community composition and its diversity. Moreover, organic manure fertilization could limit soil-born fungal diseases, to further contribute to soil ecosystem sustainability.
Highlights
The North China Plain is the most important crop production area in China, being a typical region where winter wheat and summer maize are planted within the same year
Among the three fertilization regimes, the combination of 1/2 chemical fertilizer and 1/2 organic manure, as well as organic manure treatments, significantly increased soil total nitrogen (TN), Soil organic carbon (SOC), AP and NO3− compared with chemical fertilizer treatment; soil C:N ratio was negligibly affected by manure inputs
The Shannon-Weaver and Simpson’s 1-D indexes of fungal alpha diversity were significantly affected by applying organic manure and the combination of 1/2 chemical fertilizer and 1/2 organic manure treatments to soil (Fig. 2). This effect could be due to the organic manure, since it can improve the quantity of SOC, which is necessary for local fungal growth
Summary
The North China Plain is the most important crop production area in China, being a typical region where winter wheat and summer maize are planted within the same year. Long-term field experimentation is more robust scientifically for inferring the effect of any fertilization regime, since this offers the advantage of strong climate continuity, a longer duration of soil dynamics, and accurate and abundant data. This approach deserves more attention[16,17]. Far fewer studies report on the use of long-term fertilizer experiments to analyze the effects of the three main fertilization regimes on soil fungal community diversity of the North China Plain. This study it the first to use an equal nitrogen input among all imposed treatments in testing for their effects upon fungal community composition under long-term fertilization in the North China Plain. This research will help to further establish a scientifically based fertilization regime
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