High starter phosphorus fertilization facilitates soil phosphorus turnover by promoting microbial functional interaction in an arable soil.

Microbial phosphorus (P) turnover is critical in C utilization efficiency in agroecosystems. It is therefore necessary to understand the P mobilization processes occurring during P fertilization in order to ensure both crop yield and environmental quality. Here, we established a controlled pot experiment containing soil amended with three different levels of starter P fertilizer and collected soil samples after 30, 60, and 90 days of incubation. Quantitative microbial element cycling (QMEC) smart chip technology and 16S rRNA gene sequencing were used to investigate functional gene structures involved in carbon, nitrogen and P cycling and the bacterial community composition of the collected samples. Although P fertilization did not significantly affect the structure of the soil microbial community, some rare microbiota were changed in particular phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria were enriched at the high P fertilization level, suggesting that the rare taxa make an important contribution to P turnover. P fertilization also altered the functional gene structure, and high P concentrations enhanced the functional gene diversity and abundance. Partial redundancy analysis further revealed that changes in rare taxa and functional genes of soil microorganisms drive the alteration of soil P pools. These findings extend our understanding of the microbial mechanisms of P turnover.