Application of Organic Fertilizer Changes the Rhizosphere Microbial Communities of a Gramineous Grass on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

• Published in: Microorganisms (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 6; p. 1148
• Main Authors: Ma, Kun, Wang, Yingcheng, Jin, Xin, Zhao, Yangan, Yan, Huilin, Zhang, Haijuan, Zhou, Xueli, Lu, Guangxin, Deng, Ye
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 02.06.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Agricultural research; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; Arbuscular mycorrhizas; Bacteria; Biodiversity; Chemical properties; Composition; Elymus nutans; Environmental impact; Experiments; Fertilizer application; Fertilizers; Fungi; Grasses; Grasslands; Growing season; Host plants; Microbial activity; microbial assembly; Microbiomes; Microorganisms; Nitrogen; Nutrients; organic fertilizer; Organic fertilizers; Pasture; Productivity; Qinghai–Tibet Plateau; Rhizosphere; rhizosphere microbial communities; Selectivity; Soil fertility; Soil microbiology; Soil microorganisms; Stochastic models; Stochastic processes; Stochasticity; Terrestrial ecosystems; China; Tibet; Qinghai–Tibet Plateau; rhizosphere microbial communities; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; microbial assembly; organic fertilizer
• ISSN: 2076-2607; 2076-2607
• DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10061148

The effects of organic fertilizer application on the soil microbial community in grassland systems have been extensively studied. However, the effects of organic fertilizers on the structure of rhizosphere microbial communities are still limited. In this study, the diversity and composition of rhizosphere microbial communities of a gramineous grass under organic fertilizer treatment were studied in an artificial pasture on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. After a growing season, the application of organic fertilizer not only increased the height and biomass of , but also changed the rhizosphere microbial compositions. In particular, organic fertilizer increased the diversity of rhizosphere bacterial community and inhibited the growth of pathogenic bacteria such as , but the opposite trend was observed for the diversity of fungal community. The assembly process of fungal community was changed from a stochastic process to a deterministic process, indicating that selection was strengthened. Additionally, both the infection rate of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) toward host plants and the development of AMF-related structures were significantly increased after the application of organic fertilizer. Our study demonstrated that the addition of organic fertilizer to artificial pasture could improve the growth of grass through the alteration of the rhizosphere microbial communities. Organic fertilizer had a greater selectivity for the bacterial and the fungal communities that enhanced the niche filtration in this community, further benefiting the yield of forages.