Changes in Bacterial and Fungal Soil Communities in Long-Term Organic Cropping Systems

Jessica Cuartero, Onurcan Özbolat, Virginia Sánchez-Navarro, Marcos Egea-Cortines, Raúl Zornoza, Loredana Canfora, Luigi Orrù, Jose Antonio Pascual, Juana-Maria Vivo and Margarita Ros
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Jessica Cuartero: Centre of Edaphology and Applied Biology of the Segura (CEBAS-CSIC), University Campus of Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Onurcan Özbolat: Institute of Plant Biotechnology, Technical University of Cartagena, Plaza del Hospital s/n, 30202 Cartagena, Spain
Virginia Sánchez-Navarro: Department of Agricultural Science, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII 48, 30203 Cartagena, Spain
Marcos Egea-Cortines: Institute of Plant Biotechnology, Technical University of Cartagena, Plaza del Hospital s/n, 30202 Cartagena, Spain
Raúl Zornoza: Department of Agricultural Science, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII 48, 30203 Cartagena, Spain
Loredana Canfora: Research Centre for Agriculture & Environment (AA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Via della Navicella 2-4, 00184 Roma, Italy
Luigi Orrù: Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA) Research Centre for Genomics and Bioinformatics, Via S. Protaso 302, 29017 Fiorenzuola d’Arda, Italy
Jose Antonio Pascual: Centre of Edaphology and Applied Biology of the Segura (CEBAS-CSIC), University Campus of Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Margarita Ros: Centre of Edaphology and Applied Biology of the Segura (CEBAS-CSIC), University Campus of Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-19

Abstract: Long-term organic farming aims to reduce synthetic fertilizer and pesticide use in order to sustainably produce and improve soil quality. To do this, there is a need for more information about the soil microbial community, which plays a key role in a sustainable agriculture. In this paper, we assessed the long-term effects of two organic and one conventional cropping systems on the soil microbial community structure using high-throughput sequencing analysis, as well as the link between these communities and the changes in the soil properties and crop yield. The results showed that the crop yield was similar among the three cropping systems. The microbial community changed according to cropping system. Organic cultivation with manure compost and compost tea (Org_C) showed a change in the bacterial community associated with an improved soil carbon and nutrient content. A linear discriminant analysis effect size showed different bacteria and fungi as key microorganisms for each of the three different cropping systems, for conventional systems (Conv), different microorganisms such as Nesterenkonia, Galbibacter, Gramella, Limnobacter, Pseudoalteromonas, Pantoe , and Sporobolomyces were associated with pesticides, while for Org_C and organic cultivation with manure (Org_M), other types of microorganisms were associated with organic amendments with different functions, which, in some cases, reduce soil borne pathogens. However, further investigations such as functional approaches or network analyses are need to better understand the mechanisms behind this behavior.

Keywords: compost; high-throughput sequencing; sheep manure; soil properties; crop yield; organic farming; microbial community structure (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
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