He Xingjia, Zhang Aijia, Sha Chenning, Wu Fengzhi, Yang Kejun
College of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing, 163319, China.
College of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 20;15(1):30573. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-15045-1.
Intercropping can promote sustainable agricultural development and increase economic benefits by enhancing ecosystem stability, soil health, and resource use efficiency. In this study, we analyzed the effects of tomato monoculture and tomato/potato-onion intercropping on tomato root distribution and bacterial and fungal communities in tomato rhizosphere by stratified subsection excavation method, quantitative PCR, and Illumina MiSeq sequencing. The results indicated that the root system of monoculture tomato farming did not exhibit significant displacement, whereas the tomato root system in intercropping exhibited spatial adjustments to avoid competition. Intercropping increased soil pH, nitrate nitrogen (NO-N), available phosphorus (AP), and available potassium (AK), but decreased soil electrical conductivity (EC). Intercropping increased tomato biomass, yield, and quality, but reduced the number of diseased fruits caused by tomato blossom-end rot. Additionally, intercropping increased α-diversity and altered the composition and structure of bacterial and fungal communities, as well as the abundance of potentially beneficial bacteria (e.g., Bacillus spp. and Pseudomonas spp.). Redundancy analysis (RDA) based on the euclidean distance were used to evaluate the relationship between bacterial and fungal community structures and various factors. The results indicated that soil bacterial and fungal communities in tomato/potato-onion system were significantly positively correlated with AP, NO-N, pH, and yield, while EC in monoculture system was significantly positively correlated with bacterial communities, but negatively correlated with fungal communities. Microbial co-occurrence network analysis showed that, compared with the monoculture tomato farming, the tomato rhizosphere bacterial community in the intercropping system exhibited significantly enhanced network connectivity. This was manifested by a substantial increase in degree and graph density, alongside reduced modularity. Conversely, the fungal community network connectivity in the intercropped tomato rhizosphere was significantly weakened, characterized by decreased degree and graph density, with a concurrent increase in modularity. Overall, our study demonstrated that intercropping with potato-onion changed tomato root distribution, increased soil microbial community diversity and changed community structure, and improved the soil environment, which may be the key factors to promote the growth of tomato and improve the yield and quality of tomato.
间作可以通过增强生态系统稳定性、土壤健康和资源利用效率来促进可持续农业发展并提高经济效益。在本研究中，我们采用分层分段挖掘法、定量PCR和Illumina MiSeq测序分析了番茄单作以及番茄/马铃薯-洋葱间作对番茄根系分布以及番茄根际细菌和真菌群落的影响。结果表明，单作番茄种植的根系未表现出明显的位移，而间作中的番茄根系表现出空间调整以避免竞争。间作提高了土壤pH值、硝态氮（NO-N）、有效磷（AP）和速效钾（AK），但降低了土壤电导率（EC）。间作增加了番茄的生物量、产量和品质，但减少了由番茄脐腐病引起的病果数量。此外, 间作增加了α多样性，改变了细菌和真菌群落的组成和结构，以及潜在有益细菌（如芽孢杆菌属和假单胞菌属）的丰度。基于欧氏距离的冗余分析（RDA）用于评估细菌和真菌群落结构与各种因素之间的关系。结果表明，番茄/马铃薯-洋葱系统中的土壤细菌和真菌群落与AP、NO-N、pH和产量呈显著正相关，而单作系统中的EC与细菌群落呈显著正相关，但与真菌群落呈负相关。微生物共现网络分析表明，与单作番茄种植相比，间作系统中番茄根际细菌群落的网络连通性显著增强。这表现为度和图密度大幅增加，同时模块性降低。相反，间作番茄根际的真菌群落网络连通性显著减弱，其特征是度和图密度降低，同时模块性增加。总体而言，我们的研究表明，与马铃薯-洋葱间作改变了番茄根系分布，增加了土壤微生物群落多样性并改变了群落结构，改善了土壤环境，这可能是促进番茄生长并提高番茄产量和品质的关键因素。
