Long-term straw and plastic film mulching have divergent effects on maize rhizosphere enzyme activity and bacterial community structure

verfasst von: Yan Li, Xuechen Zhang, Na Yang, Hongyu Hao, Nataliya Bilyera, Xucheng Zhang, Tingliang Li, Shanchao Yue, Bingnian Zhai, Kazem Zamanian, Ziyan Li, Bahar S. Razavi
Abstract: Mulching is widely adopted in arid regions to improve soil environment and crop productivity. However, our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of such improvements from enzyme activity and rhizosphere microbial community structure perspectives remain poor. To fill the gap, soil zymography was coupled with high-throughput sequencing to investigate enzyme activities and bacterial community structure in a 10-year field experiment in a semi-arid region. We examined the effects of two mulching measures (plastic film mulching [FM] and straw mulching [SM], with no mulching as the control [CK]) on the maize rhizosphere extent of β-glucosidase and leucine aminopeptidase activities and the abundance of the bacterial genes encoding these two enzymes. The enzyme activity in the SM and FM measures was higher compared to the CK measures (P < 0.05). SM had higher influence than FM on β-glucosidase activity and its rhizosphere extent. This was related to the increase in soil organic carbon (SOC) content and the stable bacterial community structure and interactions under SM. In contrast, leucine aminopeptidase activity was the highest under FM due to the higher soil temperature and moisture content under FM which further intensified nutrient competition among microorganisms or between microorganisms and plants. In addition, Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria were the major contributors to β-glucosidase activity despite their genes encoding β-glucosidase not increasing under SM. Conversely, the copy number of genes encoding leucine aminopeptidase and the genes encoded by Proteobacteria (the main contributor) decreased under FM. Therefore, total gene number is not a stable indicator of microbial function (such as enzyme activity) and cannot explain enzyme activity adequately. Overall, this study establishes a connection between rhizosphere enzyme activity and bacterial communities, revealing the mechanisms by which changes in environmental nutrient supply and bacterial community composition under straw mulching and plastic film mulching measures lead to variations in enzyme efficiency.
Organisationseinheit(en): Institut für Bodenkunde
Externe Organisation(en): Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GSAGR)
Shanxi Agricultural University
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU)
Typ: Artikel
Journal: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
Band: 364
ISSN: 0167-8809
Publikationsdatum: 15.04.2024
Publikationsstatus: Veröffentlicht
Peer-reviewed: Ja
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete: Ökologie, Nutztierwissenschaften und Zoologie, Agronomie und Nutzpflanzenwissenschaften
Elektronische Version(en): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2024.108894 (Zugang: Geschlossen)

BibTeX

@article{9ecf309f7da94dd2858b8921498576ca,
title = "Long-term straw and plastic film mulching have divergent effects on maize rhizosphere enzyme activity and bacterial community structure",
abstract = "Mulching is widely adopted in arid regions to improve soil environment and crop productivity. However, our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of such improvements from enzyme activity and rhizosphere microbial community structure perspectives remain poor. To fill the gap, soil zymography was coupled with high-throughput sequencing to investigate enzyme activities and bacterial community structure in a 10-year field experiment in a semi-arid region. We examined the effects of two mulching measures (plastic film mulching [FM] and straw mulching [SM], with no mulching as the control [CK]) on the maize rhizosphere extent of β-glucosidase and leucine aminopeptidase activities and the abundance of the bacterial genes encoding these two enzymes. The enzyme activity in the SM and FM measures was higher compared to the CK measures (P < 0.05). SM had higher influence than FM on β-glucosidase activity and its rhizosphere extent. This was related to the increase in soil organic carbon (SOC) content and the stable bacterial community structure and interactions under SM. In contrast, leucine aminopeptidase activity was the highest under FM due to the higher soil temperature and moisture content under FM which further intensified nutrient competition among microorganisms or between microorganisms and plants. In addition, Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria were the major contributors to β-glucosidase activity despite their genes encoding β-glucosidase not increasing under SM. Conversely, the copy number of genes encoding leucine aminopeptidase and the genes encoded by Proteobacteria (the main contributor) decreased under FM. Therefore, total gene number is not a stable indicator of microbial function (such as enzyme activity) and cannot explain enzyme activity adequately. Overall, this study establishes a connection between rhizosphere enzyme activity and bacterial communities, revealing the mechanisms by which changes in environmental nutrient supply and bacterial community composition under straw mulching and plastic film mulching measures lead to variations in enzyme efficiency.",
keywords = "Bacterial community, Enzyme kinetics, Long-term mulching, Rhizosphere microbiome, Soil zymography",
author = "Yan Li and Xuechen Zhang and Na Yang and Hongyu Hao and Nataliya Bilyera and Xucheng Zhang and Tingliang Li and Shanchao Yue and Bingnian Zhai and Kazem Zamanian and Ziyan Li and Razavi, {Bahar S.}",
note = "This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42177342), the Foreign Expert Introduction Program sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology (G2022172039L), Shaanxi Province Key Research and Development Projects (2022ZDLNY02-01), the Major Science and Technology Projects in Shaanxi Province (2020zdzx03-02-01), Foundation of Key Laboratory of High-Water Utilization on Dryland of Gansu Province (HNSJJ-2021), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2452023091, 2452022026).",
year = "2024",
month = apr,
day = "15",
doi = "10.1016/j.agee.2024.108894",
language = "English",
volume = "364",
journal = "Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment",
issn = "0167-8809",
publisher = "Elsevier",
}