Cover Cropping Impacts Soil Microbial Communities and Functions in Mango Orchards

Zhiyuan Wei, Quanchao Zeng and Wenfeng Tan
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Zhiyuan Wei: College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
Quanchao Zeng: College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
Wenfeng Tan: College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 4, 1-12

Abstract: Soil microbes play critical roles in nutrient cycling, net primary production, food safety, and climate change in terrestrial ecosystems, yet their responses to cover cropping in agroforestry ecosystems remain unknown. Here, we conducted a field experiment to assess how changes in cover cropping with sown grass strips affect the fruit yields and quality, community composition, and diversity of soil microbial taxa in a mango orchard. The results showed that two-year cover cropping increased mango fruit yields and the contents of soluble solids. Cover cropping enhanced soil fungal diversity rather than soil bacterial diversity. Although cover cropping had no significant effects on soil bacterial diversity, it significantly influenced soil bacterial community compositions. These variations in the structures of soil fungal and bacterial communities were largely driven by soil nitrogen, which positively or negatively affected the relative abundance of both bacterial and fungal taxa. Cover cropping also altered fungal guilds, which enhanced the proportion of pathotrophic fungi and decreased saprotrophic fungi. The increase in fungal diversity and alterations in fungal guilds might be the main factors to consider for increasing mango fruit yields and quality. Our results indicate that cover cropping affects mango fruit yields and quality via alterations in soil fungal diversity, which bridges a critical gap in our understanding of the linkages between soil biodiversity and fruit quality in response to cover cropping in orchard ecosystems.

Keywords: soil microbes; cover cropping; mango orchards; sown grass; fungal diversity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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