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Long-term mineral fertilizer application strongly influences soil microbial community structure but not diversity.
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EGF2022.pdf
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Abstract
Mineral fertilizer application is a common management practice in grassland production. However, its
potential long-term influence on soil microbial communities requires further study. In 1972, a split-plot
experiment was established in the Jura region of Switzerland containing a non-fertilized control and a
fertilized treatment of 150, 80 and 240 kg ha-1 yr-1 mineral N, P and K, respectively. Soil samples for
microbial community analysis were taken in the summer of 2018. There was a highly significant effect
of mineral fertilizer application on both soil fungal and bacterial community structure (all P<0.001),
with unique fungal and bacterial indicator OTU (operational taxonomic unit) being associated to each
treatment. Contrastingly, alpha diversity measures (OTU richness and inverse Simpson index) were not
affected (P>0.05). These results demonstrated that long-term mineral fertilizer application had a strong
influence on soil microbial community structure, promoting different microbial taxa, but did not affect
the overall alpha diversity of these communities.