Variation in Soil Microbial Community Structure Associated with Different Legume Species Is Greater than that Associated with Different Grass Species.

Yang Zhou,Honghui Zhu,Qing Yao,Shenglei Fu

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.01007

Abstract

Plants are the essential factors shaping soil microbial community (SMC) structure. When most studies focus on the difference in the SMC structure associated different plant species, the variation in the SMC structure associated with phylogenetically close species is less investigated. Legume (Fabaceae) and grass (Poaceae) are functionally important plant groups; however, their influences on the SMC structure are seldom compared, and the variation in the SMC structure among legume or grass species is largely unknown. In this study, we grew three legume species vs. three grass species in mesocosms, and monitored the soil chemical property, quantified the abundance of bacteria and fungi. The SMC structure was also characterized using PCR-DGGE and Miseq sequencing. Results showed that legume and grass differentially affected soil pH, dissolved organic C, total N content, and available P content, and that legume enriched fungi more greatly than grass. Both DGGE profiling and Miseq-sequencing indicated that the bacterial diversity associated with legume was higher than that associated with grass. When legume increased the abundance of Verrucomicrobia, grass decreased it, and furthermore, linear discriminant analysis identified some group-specific microbial taxa as potential biomarkers of legume or grass. These data suggest that legume and grass differentially select for the SMC. More importantly, clustering analysis based on both DGGE profiling and Miseq-sequencing demonstrated that the variation in the SMC structure associated with three legume species was greater than that associated with three grass species.

Highlights

Soil ecological processes are primarily driven by soil microbial community (SMC), and plant species is one of the important factors shaping the SMC (Berg and Smalla, 2009; Diouf et al, 2010; Ladygina and Hedlund, 2010; McLaren and Turkington, 2011)
By comparing the difference between legume and grass and the variation within three species of legume or grass, we aimed to explore (a) what differences in the SMC shaped by legume and grass, and (b) to what extent the SMC varies within legume or grass species
total N content (TN) and available P content (AP) associated with legume were higher than those associated with grass

Summary

Introduction

Soil ecological processes are primarily driven by soil microbial community (SMC), and plant species is one of the important factors shaping the SMC (Berg and Smalla, 2009; Diouf et al, 2010; Ladygina and Hedlund, 2010; McLaren and Turkington, 2011). Soil Microbiome with Legume and Grass difference is among different species. Legume, and grass normally occur as food crops, vegetables, forages, cover crops, and weeds. Due to their wide distribution in the diverse ecosystems, the influences of legume and grass on soil ecological processes have been intensively investigated, the influences on the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients. Due to their wide distribution in the diverse ecosystems, the influences of legume and grass on soil ecological processes have been intensively investigated, the influences on the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients. Dinesh et al (2006) reported that long-term (12 years) cover cropping with four leguminous species significantly improved the N and C cycling driven by soil microbes, resulting in higher levels of total organic C, dissolved organic C and N, labile organic N, and etc. Cui et al (2015) indicated that, as cover crops in a subtropical orchard, legume and grass differentially affected the hydrolysis of soil organic P

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