Abstract
Soil types and cropping systems influence the diversity and composition of the rhizospheric microbial communities. Coptis chinensis Franch is one of the most important medicinal plants in China. In the current study, we provide detailed information regarding the diversity and composition of rhizospheric fungal communities of the C. chinensis plants in continuous cropping fields and fallow fields in two seasons (winter and summer), using next-generation sequencing. Alpha diversity was higher in the five-year C. chinensis field and lower in fallow fields. Significant differences analysis confirmed more fungi in the cultivated field soil than in fallow fields. Additionally, PCoA of beta diversity indices revealed that samples associated with the cultivated fields and fallow fields in different seasons were separated. Five fungal phyla (Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Chytridiomycota, Glomeromycota and Mucoromycota) were identified from the soil samples in addition to the unclassified fungal taxa and Cryptomycota, and among these phyla, Ascomycota was predominantly found. FUNGuild fungal functional prediction revealed that saprotroph was the dominant trophic type in all two time-series soil samples. Redundancy analysis (RDA) of the dominant phyla data and soil physiochemical properties revealed the variations in fungal community structure in the soil samples. Knowledge from the present study could provide a valuable reference for solving the continuous cropping problems and promote the sustainable development of the C. chinensis industry.
Highlights
Coptis chinensis Franch is a perennial plant, and is one of the therapeutically most important medicinal plants, and is commonly used in Chinese traditional medicine
We found that the continuous cropping of chinensis resulted in a considerable change in soil fungal community diversity and richness
Our results show that the continuous cropping of C. chinensis led to significant ascends in the total content of nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter, and declines in pH and fungal community richness and diversity
Summary
Coptis chinensis Franch is a perennial plant, and is one of the therapeutically most important medicinal plants, and is commonly used in Chinese traditional medicine. The rhizome has a high therapeutic value. The plant has a bitter flavor, the rhizome of the plant is being used as a food ingredient, as well as being added to products such as honey and other drinks [1]. The C. chinensis plant is mainly found in eastern Chongqing, western Hubei, northern Hunan, southern Shanxi, Guizhou and other places of China.
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