and microalgae biofertilizers improved quality and biomass of by altering microbial communities.

OBJECTIVE

Biofertilizers are reliable alternatives to chemical fertilizers due to various advantages. However, the effect of biofertilizers on yield and quality and the possible mechanisms remain little known. Here, an experiment was conducted in field treated with two kinds of biofertilizers including  and microalgae.

METHODS

A field experiment was conducted on of one year old. The biofertilizers were applied at six treatments: (i) control check, CK; (ii) microalgae, VZ; (iii) , TTB; (iv) microalgae +  (1:1), VTA; (v) microalgae +  (0.5:1), VTB; (vi) microalgae +  (1:0.5), VTC. Here, high-throughput sequencing, ICP-MS and UPLC were employed to systematically characterize changes of microbial diversity and structure composition, heavy metals content and bioactive compounds, respectively.

RESULTS

Compared to CK, root biomass increased by 29.31%-60.39% ( < 0.001). Meanwhile, bioactive compounds were higher than CK after the application of the biofertilizers, peculiarly in TTB and VTB. However, the content of Pb contents in roots significantly reduced by 46.03% and 37.58% respectively in VTC and TTB ( < 0.05). VTA application notably increased the available nitrogen content by 53.03% ( < 0.05), indicating the improvement of soil fertility. Significantly, bacterial and fungal Chao I diversity indices showed an increasing trend with biofertilizer application ( < 0.05), and biofertilizer amendment enriched the rhizosphere soil with beneficial microorganisms that have abilities on promoting plant growth ( and ), adsorbing heavy metal ( and ), controlling plant pathogen (, and ) and promoting the accumulation of metabolites ( and ).

CONCLUSION

and microalgae biofertilizers improved the quality and biomass of by altering microbial communities in soil.