Promotion of Lotus tenuis in the Flooding Pampa (Argentina) increases the soil fungal diversity

• Published in: Fungal ecology Vol. 33; pp. 80 - 91
• Main Authors: Nieva, Amira Susana, Bailleres, Matías A., Llames, María Eugenia, Taboada, Miguel Angel, Ruiz, Oscar A., Menéndez, Ana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2018
• Subjects: Argentina; bicarbonates; calcium; community structure; forage; Forage herbicide promotion; forage legumes; fungal communities; Fusarium; Glyphosate; grasses; internal transcribed spacers; land use; Lotus glaber; Lotus tenuis; pastures; pesticide application; Salado River Basin; sequence analysis; soil; soil fungi; Argentina; Fusarium; Salado River Basin; Lotus tenuis; Forage herbicide promotion; Glyphosate
• ISSN: 1754-5048
• DOI: 10.1016/j.funeco.2018.01.001

Forage promotion is an increasingly used agricultural practice that requires herbicide application to remove competing plant species. This work examined the effect of the forage legume Lotus tenuis on the fungal community composition at three sites of the Flooding Pampa, Argentina. Replicate paddocks, managed either by herbicide-mediated promotion of L. tenuis or unmanaged (dominated by grasses) were compared using 454 pyrosequencing, targeting the fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene. Our results suggest that fungal diversity in the studied area varied according to the site and the land use (natural grasses vs. L. tenuis promotion). Several factors [pH, Ca2+, P, and HCO3−] were the main soil environmental drivers of distribution of fungal classes. Herbicide-mediated L. tenuis promotion led to increased fungal diversity, with dominance of Fusarium species. Heatmaps graphics based on number of reads of each OUT member of core mycobiome analysis. OTUs at species levels according to UNITE database and 97% similarity of 18S rRNA gene sequences. Sites: M: Manantiales 1; L: La Bellaca; T: Manantiales 2. [Display omitted] •Fungal diversity varied according with the site and with the land use.•L. tenuis promotion led to increased fungal diversity Fusarium dominance.•Main soil environmental drivers of fungal distribution were pH, Ca2+, P and HCO3−.