[Effect of Biochar Amendment on Physicochemical Properties and Fungal Community Structures of Cinnamon Soil]

Abstract

To identify the effect of biochar addition on soil abiotic and biotic properties and provide evidence for the soil improvement with biochar input, the soil physiochemical properties and fungal community were investigated in a cinnamon soil after 3-year biochar additions of 10, 20, and 40 t ·hm^-2. The relationship between the fungal community and edaphic physicochemical characteristics was also analyzed. The results showed that soil pH, moisture, total nitrogen (TN), and total organic carbon (TOC) significantly increased but dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content and soil bulk density decreased with biochar addition. High-throughput sequencing results indicated that biochar amendment had little influence on fungal α diversity but significantly changed the fungal community structure. The taxonomic classification showed that the dominant fungal phyla were Ascomycota, Zygomycota, and Basidiomycota, and these phyla accounted for more than 90% of the total sequences. The relative abundance of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota increased, while the abundance of Zygomycota decreased with biochar addition. At the genus level, biochar addition increased the relative abundances of Alternaria, Conocybe, and Aspergillus but decreased the relative abundances of Actinomucor and Gibberella. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that soil DOC, pH, and moisture were key environmental factors leading to the shift in the soil fungal community composition. In summary, the application of biochar changed the soil physicochemical properties, which drove the ecological succession of soil fungal communities.

Keywords: Illumina MiSeq sequencing technology; biochar; cinnamon soil; fungal community structure; physicochemical properties.