Depth-dependent influence of biochar application on the abundance and community structure of diazotrophic under sugarcane growth

PLoS One. 2021 Jul 19;16(7):e0253970. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253970. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Despite progress in understanding diazotrophic distribution in surface soils, few studies have investigated the distribution of diazotrophic bacteria in deeper soil layers. Here, we leveraged high-throughput sequencing (HTS) of nifH genes obtained to assess the influence of biochar amended soil (BC) and control (CK), and soil depths (0-20, 20-40 and 40-60 cm) on diazotrophic abundance and community structures, soil enzyme activities and physio-chemical properties. Multivariate ANOVA analysis revealed that soil depth had profound impact on majority of the soil parameters measured than fertilization. Although soil physio-chemical properties, enzymes activities, diazotrophic genera and enriched operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were significantly influenced across the entire soil profiles, we also observed that BC amended soil significantly increased cane stalk height and weight, nitrate (NO3-), ammonium (NH4+), organic matter (OM), total carbon (TC) and available potassium (AK), and enhanced diazotrophic genera in soil depth 0-20 cm compared to CK treatment. Soil TC, total nitrogen (TN), OM and NH4+ were the major impact factors shifting diazotrophic community structures in soil depth 0-20 cm. Overall, these results were more pronounced in 0-20 cm soil depth in BC than CK treatment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Ammonium Compounds / metabolism
  • Bacteria / genetics
  • Bacteria / metabolism
  • Carbon / metabolism*
  • Charcoal / chemistry
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Nitrates / chemistry
  • Nitrates / metabolism
  • Nitrogen / metabolism
  • Nitrogen Fixation / genetics*
  • Potassium / metabolism
  • Saccharum / genetics
  • Saccharum / growth & development
  • Saccharum / metabolism*
  • Saccharum / microbiology
  • Soil Microbiology*

Substances

  • Ammonium Compounds
  • Nitrates
  • biochar
  • Charcoal
  • Carbon
  • Nitrogen
  • Potassium

Grants and funding

We would like to acknowledge that this research was funded by Public Welfare Industrial Research Project of China (grant number 20150311904-01) and Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-17). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.