Influence of planting methods and organic amendments on rice yield and bacterial communities in the rhizosphere soil

Zhiqiang Tang; Liying Zhang; Na He; Zhiqi Liu; Zuobin Ma; Liang Fu; Hui Wang; Changhua Wang; Guomin Sui; Wenjing Zheng

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.918986

Influence of planting methods and organic amendments on rice yield and bacterial communities in the rhizosphere soil

Front Microbiol. 2022 Jul 28:13:918986. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.918986. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Zhiqiang Tang¹, Liying Zhang¹, Na He¹, Zhiqi Liu², Zuobin Ma¹, Liang Fu¹, Hui Wang², Changhua Wang¹, Guomin Sui², Wenjing Zheng¹

Affiliations

¹ Liaoning Rice Research Institute, Shenyang, China.
² Liaoning Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenyang, China.

Abstract

A comprehensive understanding of rice cultivation techniques and organic amendments affecting soil quality, enzyme activities and bacterial community structure is crucial. We investigated two planting methods (direct seeding and transplanting) of paddy rice (Oryza sativa) and organic amendments with rice straw and biochar on crop yield and soil biological and physicochemical properties. Rhizosphere bacterial communities at the maturity stage of rice growth were characterized through high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing. Soil biochemical properties and enzyme activity levels were analyzed. Grain yield of paddy rice with transplanting increased 10.6% more than that with direct seeding. The application of rice straw increased grain yield by 7.1 and 8.2%, more than with biochar and the control, respectively. Compared to biochar and the control, the application of rice straw significantly increased sucrase, cellulase, protease, organic carbon, available phosphorus, nitrate, and ammonium. The application of biochar increased microbial biomass nitrogen and carbon, urease, pH, available nitrogen, and available potassium compared to the application of rice straw and the control. Principal coordinate analysis and dissimilarity distances confirmed significant differences among the microbial communities associated with planting methods and organic amendments. Bacteroidetes, Nitrospirae, Firmicutes, and Gemmatimonadetes abundance increased with rice straw relative to biochar and the control. The biochar addition was associated with significant increases in Chloroflexi, Patescibacteria, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria abundance. Pearson's correlation analyzes showed that Chloroflexi, Bacteroidetes and Nitrospirae abundance was positively correlated with grain yield. The relative abundance of these bacteria in soil may be beneficial for improving grain yield. These results suggest that planting methods and organic amendments impact soil biochemical characteristics, enzyme activity levels, and microbial community composition.

Keywords: bacterial communities; biochar; enzyme activities; high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing; paddy rice.