Interactions of Mycorrhizal Fungi and Other Soil Microorganisms with Plants

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Microbe Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 2485

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China
Interests: environmental microbiology; microbial ecology

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Guest Editor
College of Resources and Environment, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230601, China
Interests: microbial ecology; plant-microbial interaction; functional microorganism

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Guest Editor
Soil and Fertilizer & Resources and Environment Institute, Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanchang 330200, China
Interests: soil fertility; microbes; production and utilization of green manure crops; acidified soil amelioration and utilization
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil microorganisms have important effects on soil nutrient cycling, and also improve plant growth. Mycorrhizal fungi are particularly closely related to plants and have a greater effect on plant growth by improving plant nutrients and stress tolerance. However, there are certain pathogens in soil to inhibit plant growth. In addition, the aboveground plants could regulate belowground microbial community. Plants allocate 20–40% of total photosynthetic products to soil for microbial growth. Thus, the interactions between aboveground plants and belowground microbial community might be an interesting research topic.

This research topic welcomes the submission (original research articles, reviews and opinions) related, but not limited to, the following subjects:

  1. Symbiotic relationship between plants and mycorrhiza;
  2. The interaction between plants and rhizosphere microorganisms;
  3. Effect of plant succession on soil microbial community;
  4. Soil-borne diseases and their effects on plant growth.

Dr. Xingjia Xiang
Dr. Ruibo Sun
Dr. Jia Liu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • soil microbial community
  • plant
  • interaction
  • symbiotic relationship
  • soil pathogen

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 5411 KiB  
Article
Effect of Nitrogen on Microbial Communities of Purple Mudstone Weathering Products in Southwest China: A Column Experiment
by Chunpei Li, Wanting Li, Peng Xu, Xuan Wang, Jialiang Tang, Gangcai Liu, Ting Wang and Jixia Zhao
Microorganisms 2024, 12(8), 1548; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12081548 - 29 Jul 2024
Viewed by 730
Abstract
Nitrogen application significantly affects microorganisms in agricultural ecosystems. However, it is still unclear how nitrogen application affects soil chemical properties and microbial communities in purple mudstone weathering products. In this study, a field soil column experiment was conducted in a typical purple soil [...] Read more.
Nitrogen application significantly affects microorganisms in agricultural ecosystems. However, it is still unclear how nitrogen application affects soil chemical properties and microbial communities in purple mudstone weathering products. In this study, a field soil column experiment was conducted in a typical purple soil area with four nitrogen fertilizer application gradients of 0 [CK], 280 [N1], 560 [N2], and 840 [N3] N kg ha−1. Nitrogen addition decreased the bacterial chao1 value and increased the bacterial evenness index. For both α- and β-diversity, the effect of nitrogen addition on bacteria was much greater than that on fungi. Nitrogen addition significantly increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Bacteroidetes, and Ascomycota and decreased the relative abundance of Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, and Basidiomycota. Both pH and TC are the most important soil chemical properties influencing the bacterial and fungal communities. With the increases in the nitrogen application rate, the co-occurrence network complexity increased and then decreased. In summary, nitrogen fertilizer application could significantly change the soil chemical properties, microbial community diversity, composition, and co-occurrence network of purple mudstone weathering products. Among them, the N2 treatment (560 N kg∙ha−1) can more effectively stimulate the soil nutrients, enhance microbial network complexity, and promote further weathering of purple mudstone. Full article
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21 pages, 7117 KiB  
Article
Green Manuring Enhances Soil Multifunctionality in Tobacco Field in Southwest China
by Yu Feng, Hua Chen, Libo Fu, Mei Yin, Zhiyuan Wang, Yongmei Li and Weidong Cao
Microorganisms 2024, 12(5), 949; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12050949 - 7 May 2024
Viewed by 972
Abstract
The use of green manure can substantially increase the microbial diversity and multifunctionality of soil. Green manuring practices are becoming popular for tobacco production in China. However, the influence of different green manures in tobacco fields has not yet been clarified. Here, smooth [...] Read more.
The use of green manure can substantially increase the microbial diversity and multifunctionality of soil. Green manuring practices are becoming popular for tobacco production in China. However, the influence of different green manures in tobacco fields has not yet been clarified. Here, smooth vetch (SV), hairy vetch (HV), broad bean (BB), common vetch (CV), rapeseed (RS), and radish (RD) were selected as green manures to investigate their impact on soil multifunctionality and evaluate their effects on enhancing soil quality for tobacco cultivation in southwest China. The biomass of tobacco was highest in the SV treatment. Soil pH declined, and soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content in CV and BB and activity of extracellular enzymes in SV and CV treatments were higher than those in other treatments. Fungal diversity declined in SV and CV but did not affect soil multifunctionality, indicating that bacterial communities contributed more to soil multifunctionality than fungal communities. The abundance of Firmicutes, Rhizobiales, and Micrococcales in SV and CV treatments increased and was negatively correlated with soil pH but positively correlated with soil multifunctionality, suggesting that the decrease in soil pH contributed to increases in the abundance of functional bacteria. In the bacteria–fungi co-occurrence network, the relative abundance of key ecological modules negatively correlated with soil multifunctionality and was low in SV, CV, BB, and RS treatments, and this was associated with reductions in soil pH and increases in the content of SOM and nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N). Overall, we found that SV and CV are more beneficial for soil multifunctionality, and this was driven by the decrease in soil pH and the increase in SOM, TN, NO3-N, and C- and N-cycling functional bacteria. Full article
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