School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China; The Key Laboratory of Cell Activity and Adversity Adaptation, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China; The Key Laboratory of Cell Activity and Adversity Adaptation, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
J Environ Manage. 2022 Nov 1;321:115859. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115859. Epub 2022 Aug 16.
Maize is a crop that is cultivated worldwide. The Hexi Oasis is one of the most important areas for high-yield maize seed production in China. Green manure, a plant fertilizer, has great potential for increasing crop yield and agricultural sustainability. However, the role of microorganisms in soil health and the microbiological mechanism of green manure in improving soil fertility and crop production in the Hexi Oasis area remain unknown. The effects of maize-green manure intercropping on the soil microbial community structure and diversity and the mechanism of soil improvement were investigated in a 10-year field experiment. The study revealed that microbial phylotypes were grouped into four major ecological clusters. Module #2 is a soil core ecological cluster enriched with many plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The application of green manure led to significantly increased soil pH, nutrient contents, and enzyme activities, and significantly reduced the relative abundance of potential plant pathogens compared with monocropping, which should ensure high and stable maize yield under long-term continuous cropping. It also increased the economic benefits by 56.39% compared with monocropping, owing to the additional products produced by the green manure. These improvements were associated with changes in the microbial community structure and activity, consistent with the structural equation model results. Therefore, soil microorganisms are the key drivers of the potential benefits of maize-green manure on agricultural sustainability.
玉米是一种在全球范围内种植的作物。河西绿洲是中国最重要的高产量玉米种子生产区之一。绿肥作为一种植物肥料，具有提高作物产量和农业可持续性的巨大潜力。然而，微生物在土壤健康中的作用以及绿肥在提高河西绿洲地区土壤肥力和作物产量方面的微生物学机制尚不清楚。本研究通过一项为期 10 年的田间试验，研究了玉米-绿肥间作对土壤微生物群落结构和多样性的影响及其改良土壤的机制。研究表明，微生物类群分为四个主要生态群。模块#2 是一个富含许多植物促生根际细菌和丛枝菌根真菌的土壤核心生态群。与单作相比，绿肥的应用显著增加了土壤 pH 值、养分含量和酶活性，显著降低了潜在植物病原菌的相对丰度，这应该可以确保在长期连作下获得高产、稳定的玉米产量。与单作相比，绿肥的应用还增加了 56.39%的经济效益，这是由于绿肥增加了其他产品。这些改善与微生物群落结构和活性的变化一致，与结构方程模型的结果一致。因此，土壤微生物是玉米-绿肥对农业可持续性产生潜在效益的关键驱动因素。
