Changes in the Microbial Structure of the Root Soil and the Yield of Chinese Baby Cabbage by Chemical Fertilizer Reduction with Bio-Organic Fertilizer Application

Abstract

Using high-throughput sequencing, this study aimed to explore the response of soil microbial community and Chinese baby cabbage yield to the reduction of chemical fertilizers combined with bio-organic fertilizer. Our experiments consisted of conventional fertilizer (CK), 30% chemical fertilizer reduction + 6,000 kg/ha bio-organic fertilizer (T1), 30% chemical fertilizer reduction + 9,000 kg/ha bio-organic fertilizer (T2), 40% chemical fertilizer reduction + 6,000 kg/ha bio-organic fertilizer (T3), and 40% chemical fertilizer reduction + 9,000 kg/ha bio-organic fertilizer (T4). Compared with CK, soil microbial diversity and richness were higher for all treatments with added bio-organic fertilizer. Principle coordinate analysis (PCoA) showed that the bacterial and fungal communities in T2 and T4 were similar to each other. Redundancy and Spearman's correlation analyses of microbial communities and soil physicochemical properties revealed that reductions in chemical fertilizer rate combined with bio-organic fertilizer had a stronger impact on the fungal than the bacterial community. They also increased the relative abundance of the dominant bacterial and fungal phyla. Chinese baby cabbage yield was relatively higher under the combined bio-organic fertilizer plus reduced chemical fertilizer rate with T2 showing the highest yield. Therefore, this approach is feasible for sustainable agricultural, cost-effective and profitable crop production. IMPORTANCE Chemical fertilizers are commonly used for agriculture, though bio-organic fertilizers may be more efficient. We found that a mixture of bio-organic and moderately reduced chemical fertilizer was more effective than chemical fertilizer alone, as it raised the Chinese baby cabbage yield. Further, the presence of bio-organic fertilizer enhanced overall soil physicochemistry, as well as improved the beneficial bacterial and fungal abundance and diversity. Thus, we found that fertilizer combination sustainably & cost-effectively improves crop & soil quality.

Keywords: Chinese baby cabbage; bio-organic fertilizer; microbial community; sustainable agriculture; yield.

FIG 1

The α-diversity of bacteria (A) to (C) and fungi (D) to (F) in the root soil of Chinese baby cabbage under different fertilization treatments. Different letters over the plots indicate significant differences (P < 0.05).

FIG 2

Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of the bacteria (A) and fungi (B) communities based on the Bray–Curtis distances.

FIG 3

Redundancy analysis (RDA) and Spesrman’s rank correlation heatmap (P < 0.05 *, P < 0.01**), used to study the correlation between the microbial communities of bacteria (A) and (B) and fungi (C) and (D) and soil physical and chemical properties. TP, total phosphorus; TK, total potassium; TN, total nitrogen; pH, soil pH; EC, soil electrical conductivity; SOM, soil organic matter.

FIG 4

The relative abundance of major taxonomic groups at the phylum level (Others incorporated < 0.01) for bacteria (A) and fungi (B). The data were visualized by Circos. The width of the bars from each phylum indicated the relative abundance of the phylum.

FIG 5

Average yield of Chinese baby cabbage under different fertilization systems in 2019–2020. Different letters over the plots indicate significant differences (P < 0.05).

FIG 6

A model of soil physical and chemical properties, microbial community, and yield changes after adding bio-organic fertilizer.