Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Earth Surface System and Environmental Carrying Capacity, College of Urban and Environmental Science, Northwest University, Xi'an 710127, China; Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Carbon Neutral Technology, Northwest University, Xi'an 710127, China.
State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 Apr 10;920:170881. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170881. Epub 2024 Feb 14.
Soil microbial functional genes play key roles in biogeochemical processes that are closely related to crop development. However, the regulation of crop growth by the composition and potential interactions of metagenomic-based functional genes is poorly understood. Therefore, in a long-term mulching experiment, the regulation of wheat growth by soil multifunctionality, microbial functional profiles driven by soil properties and microbial activity was studied. Soil properties and microbial activity were significantly separated into distinct mulching treatments, and were significantly declined by plastic film mulching treatment, similar to soil multifunctionality. Only carbon (C) and phosphorus (P) cycling gene compositions were divided significantly into distinct mulching treatments to varying degrees. Similarly, intra- and inter-connected sub-networks associated with C and P cycling genes were more complex and stable than the sub-networks containing nitrogen cycling genes. Despite core functional genes being located in the middle of each network, they were rarely observed in the metagenomic assembly genomes. Subsequently, the dominant soil properties and microbial activity had greater effects on C cycling gene composition and network, which played essential roles in wheat growth regulation. Overall, wheat yield and biomass were affected differently by straw and plastic film mulching treatments, and were mainly regulated by C cycling gene network and soil multifunctionality, respectively. The results of the present study provide novel insights into wheat growth regulation by soil microbial functional profiles, with potential implications for sustainable crop production in mulching conservation agroecosystems.
土壤微生物功能基因在与作物发育密切相关的生物地球化学过程中发挥着关键作用。然而，基于宏基因组的功能基因的组成和潜在相互作用对作物生长的调控作用还知之甚少。因此，在一项长期覆盖实验中，研究了土壤多功能性、受土壤特性和微生物活性驱动的微生物功能谱对小麦生长的调控作用。土壤特性和微生物活性明显分为不同的覆盖处理，与土壤多功能性相似，塑料薄膜覆盖处理显著下降。只有碳（C）和磷（P）循环基因组成明显分为不同的覆盖处理，程度不同。同样，与氮循环基因相关的内连接和外连接子网络也比包含氮循环基因的子网络更复杂和稳定。尽管核心功能基因位于每个网络的中间，但它们很少在宏基因组组装基因组中观察到。随后，主要的土壤特性和微生物活性对 C 循环基因组成和网络有更大的影响，它们在小麦生长调节中起着重要作用。总的来说，秸秆和塑料薄膜覆盖处理对小麦产量和生物量的影响不同，主要受 C 循环基因网络和土壤多功能性调节。本研究结果为土壤微生物功能谱对小麦生长的调控提供了新的见解，对覆盖保护农业生态系统中可持续作物生产具有潜在意义。
