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Long-term mineral fertilizer application influences soil bacterial community structure, diversity and functioning.
Fox, Aaon Schulz, Stefanie Brennan, Fiona Widmer, Franco Huguenin-Elie, Olivier Schloter, Michael Luescher, Andreas
Fox, Aaon
Schulz, Stefanie
Brennan, Fiona
Widmer, Franco
Huguenin-Elie, Olivier
Schloter, Michael
Luescher, Andreas
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Abstract
Aim:
How does the long-term (46 years) application of mineral fertilizer to a production grassland influence bacterial community structure, diversity and functioning?
Method:
In 1972, a split-plot experiment was established in the Jura region (Switzerland), with four treatments (n = 6). These included a non-fertilized control (Cont), 80 and 240 kg ha yr-1 of mineral P and K, respectively (PK) and PK plus 75 (NPK) or 150 kg N ha yr-1 (NNPK). Soil DNA was extracted, with the bacterial 16S rRNA gene being PCR amplified and an amplicon-based Illumina Miseq sequence analysis conducted. Genes involved in soil nitrogen (chiA) and phosphorus mineralization (phoD) were also quantified.
Results:
There was a significant difference between Cont and all three fertilized treatments in terms of soil bacterial community structure (all P ≤ 0.05). There were also significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences between the fertilized treatments, with the exception of PK~NPK. The Shannon diversity index was significantly higher in PK (6.76) compared to Cont (6.56, P = 0.02), though this response was not seen in NPK or NNPK. Lastly, there was significantly higher abundance of the mineralization genes chiA and phoD in NNPK (4.75 x 104 and 1.27 x 105 gene copies g-1 dw, respectively) compared to Cont (2.10 x 104 and 6.91 x 104 gene copies g-1 dw, respectively).
Conclusions:
Long-term mineral fertilizer application strongly influenced soil bacterial community structure, with significant differences even being seen between different fertilized treatments. Soil bacterial diversity and potential activity for soil nutrient turnover also significantly increased.