Effects of Chinese Milk Vetch Returning on Soil Properties, Microbial Community, and Rice Yield in Paddy Soil

Jishi Zhang, Chunfeng Zheng, Lin Zhang, Chenglan Zhang, Yuhu Lv, Liangpeng Nie, Xiangning Zhang, Benyin Li, Weidong Cao, Min Li, Chunzeng Liu () and Yuting Zhang ()
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Jishi Zhang: Institute of Plant Nutrition, Resources and Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Chunfeng Zheng: Institute of Plant Nutrition, Resources and Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Lin Zhang: Institute of Plant Nutrition, Resources and Environment, Xinyang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Xinyang 464000, China
Chenglan Zhang: Institute of Plant Nutrition, Resources and Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Yuhu Lv: Institute of Plant Nutrition, Resources and Environment, Xinyang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Xinyang 464000, China
Liangpeng Nie: Institute of Plant Nutrition, Resources and Environment, Xinyang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Xinyang 464000, China
Xiangning Zhang: Institute of Plant Nutrition, Resources and Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Benyin Li: Institute of Plant Nutrition, Resources and Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Weidong Cao: Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Min Li: Institute of Soil and Fertilizer, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hefei 230031, China
Chunzeng Liu: Institute of Plant Nutrition, Resources and Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Yuting Zhang: Institute of Plant Nutrition, Resources and Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450002, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-14

Abstract: The application of green manure is considered a sustainable management approach to improve soil quality and crop yield in agricultural production. However, few studies have focused on the effects on soil properties and the microbial community when varied green manure rates are applied in rice cropping systems. We examined the soil and microbial properties in paddy soil and evaluated rice productivity and sustainable yield index in response to Chinese milk vetch (MV) application at various rates (0, 22.5, 30, 45, and 60 Mg ha −1 , labeled MV0, MV22.5, MV30, MV45, and MV60, respectively) in a seven-year (2014–2020) field experiment. For all treatments, MV application significantly improved rice yield by 22.5–29.7% and sustainable yield index by 10.3–13.0% compared with no MV application, and the highest average yield across the 7 years of the study was found in MV60, followed by MV45, MV30, and MV22.5. Compared with MV0, MV45 and MV60 treatments significantly reduced soil bulk density (BD), increased soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), total potassium (TK), and alkali solution nitrogen (AN), particularly in MV45. Moreover, compared with MV0, a marked decrease in the alpha diversity (Shannon index) of the bacterial community and a significant increase in the relative abundance of Firmicutes were observed under MV45. The alpha diversity of the fungal community did not vary across treatments, but MV45 significantly reduced the relative abundance of Ascomycota and Chytridiomycota compared with MV0. In addition, redundancy analysis indicated that the fungal community structure was significantly related to soil BD, and random forest classification analysis demonstrated that SOC and AN were the most important factors for rice yield in this study. Overall, these results indicated that MV application at 45 Mg ha −1 should be recommended to simultaneously achieve the improvement of rice yield and soil quality in the South China.

Keywords: Chinese milk vetch ( Astragalus sinicus L.); rice yield; soil physicochemical properties; microbial community (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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