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Agronomy
Special Issues
Soil Microbial Diversity in Prairie and Agricultural Ecosystems
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Soil Microbial Diversity in Prairie and Agricultural Ecosystems

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Plant Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2019) | Viewed by 9939

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Bobbi L. Helgason

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 107 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N0X2, Canada

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil microbial communities are fundamental contributors to ecosystem productivity and their activities influence a myriad of chemical, biological and physical soil attributes. Ecosystem management can have profound effects on the structure and function of the soil microbiome with effects on biogeochemical cycling, pathogen resistance, soil health and above- and belowground biodiversity. Ultimately, ecosystem services including both long- and short-term farming sustainability and profitability depend on healthy soils and their resident microbial communities.

Recent progress in our ability to capture and interpret phylogenetic diversity of soil microbial communities has advanced our collective understanding of community membership. However, much remains to be learned about how microbial diversity and identity relates to function, particularly across spatial and temporal gradients that are relevant at both the microbial and crop production scales. Likewise, soil microbial communities are thought to directly and indirectly affect the assembly of the plant microbiome but strategies for optimizing the phytobiome in agricultural production systems remain largely unidentified due to the inherent complexity of microbial community assembly.

This Special Issue will focus on the roles of soil microbial communities in enhancing sustainable ecosystem management and crop production. We welcome novel research and reviews covering all related topics including soil microbial ecology, biogeochemical cycling, soil aggregation, cropping system design, plant growth promotion and phytobiome characterization.

Dr. Bobbi L. Helgason
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Soil microbial diversity
  • Microbiome
  • Phytobiome
  • Soil health
  • Sustainable cropping systems
  • Ecosystem services
  • Food security

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2007 KiB  
Article
Benefits of Native Mycorrhizal Amendments to Perennial Agroecosystems Increases with Field Inoculation Density
by Liz Koziol, Timothy E. Crews and James D. Bever
Agronomy 2019, 9(7), 353; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9070353 - 03 Jul 2019
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4822
Abstract
Perennial polyculture cropping systems are a novel agroecological approach used to mirror some of the ecological benefits provided by native perennial ecosystems including increased carbon and nitrogen storage, more stable soils, and reduced anthropogenic input. Plants selected for perennial agroecosystems are often closely [...] Read more.
Perennial polyculture cropping systems are a novel agroecological approach used to mirror some of the ecological benefits provided by native perennial ecosystems including increased carbon and nitrogen storage, more stable soils, and reduced anthropogenic input. Plants selected for perennial agroecosystems are often closely related to native perennials known to be highly dependent on microbiome biota, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. However, most plantings take place in highly disturbed soils where tillage and chemical use may have rendered the AM fungal communities less abundant and ineffective. Studies of mycorrhizal amendments include inoculation densities of 2–10,000 kg of inocula per hectare. These studies report variable results that may depend on inocula volume, composition, or nativeness. Here, we test the response of 19 crop plant species to a native mycorrhizal fungal community in a greenhouse and field experiment. In our field experiment, we chose eight different densities of AM fungal amendment, ranging from 0 to 8192 kg/hectare, representing conventional agricultural practices (no AM fungi addition), commercial product density recommendations, and higher densities more typical of past scientific investigation. We found that plant species that benefited from native mycorrhizal inocula in the greenhouse also benefited from inoculation in the field polyculture planting. However, the densities of mycorrhizal inocula suggested on commercial mycorrhizal products were ineffective, and higher concentrations were required to detect significant benefit plant growth and survival. These data suggest that higher concentrations of mycorrhizal amendment or perhaps alternative distribution methods may be required to utilize native mycorrhizal amendment in agroecology systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Microbial Diversity in Prairie and Agricultural Ecosystems)
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13 pages, 2738 KiB  
Article
Dynamics of Bacterial Communities in a 30-Year Fertilized Paddy Field under Different Organic–Inorganic Fertilization Strategies
by Yadong Yang, Peixin Wang and Zhaohai Zeng
Agronomy 2019, 9(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9010014 - 01 Jan 2019
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 4762
Abstract
Fertilization plays important roles in improving soil fertility and in increasing crop yield. Soil microbial communities are sensitive indicators of soil quality and health, which could be affected by fertilization strategy. However, our knowledge on how organic–inorganic fertilizers application affects soil bacterial communities [...] Read more.
Fertilization plays important roles in improving soil fertility and in increasing crop yield. Soil microbial communities are sensitive indicators of soil quality and health, which could be affected by fertilization strategy. However, our knowledge on how organic–inorganic fertilizers application affects soil bacterial communities remains largely poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the long-term effects of different organic–inorganic fertilization strategies: without fertilizer (CK), fertilizers NPK (CF), fertilizers NPK, plus 30% organic manure (CFM1), and fertilizers NPK plus 60% organic manure (CFM2) on soil bacterial communities in paddy fields. Results showed that the bacterial 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) gene abundances in treatments CF, CFM1, and CFM2 were 1.44, 1.54, and 1.28 times higher than that in CK and the ACE index in treatment CFM1 was 9.0% greater than that in treatment CFM2, respectively. Fertilization strategy significantly changed the relative abundance of Nitrospirae, Gemmatimonadetes, and unclassified bacteria at the phylum level and bacteria belonging to order Nitrospira, candidate bacterium SBR2076, unclassified bacteria, Syntrophobacterales, and Solibacterales at the order level, respectively. High organic–inorganic fertilizer application rates inhibited the growth of Nitrospirae by 20–35%, and stimulated the growth of Gemmatimonadetes by 14–77%, relative to the rest of the treatments, respectively. Hierarchical cluster and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) showed that the fertilization strategy affected the bacterial community structures, and the organic–inorganic fertilized treatments possessed similar bacterial community structures. Furthermore, soil pH, total nitrogen (TN), and soil organic carbon (SOC) were the main driving factors altering the bacterial communities. Our results suggested that combined organic–inorganic fertilizers application increased soil nutrient contents and bacterial abundances, and this could be an optimized fertilization strategy in regulating soil bacterial communities for rice production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Microbial Diversity in Prairie and Agricultural Ecosystems)
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