Soil bacterial communities triggered by organic matter inputs associates with a high-yielding pear production
Li Wang, Xiaomei Ye, Hang‐Wei Hu, Jing Du, Yonglan Xi, Zongzhuan Shen, Jing Lin, Deli Chen
Abstract
Abstract. The roles of microorganisms in enhancing crop production have been demonstrated for a range of cropping systems. Most studies to date, however, have been confined to a limited number of locations, making it difficult to identify general soil biotic and abiotic characteristics underpinning the yield-promotion across various locations. This knowledge gap limits our capacity to harness soil microbiome to improve crop production. Here we used high-throughput amplicon sequencing to investigate the common features of bacterial community composition, ecological networks and physicochemical properties in six yield-invigorating and adjacent yield-debilitating orchards. We found that yield-invigorating soils exhibited higher contents of organic matter than yield-debilitating soils and harbored unique bacterial communities. Greater alpha diversity and higher relative abundances of Planctomycetota and Chloroflexota were observed in yield-debilitating soils. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed that yield-invigorating soils displayed a greater number of functionally interrelated modules (meta-modules) and a higher proportion of negative links to positive links. Chloroflexota was recognized as a keystone taxon in manipulating the interaction of bacterial communities in yield-invigorating soils. Altogether, we provide evidence that yield-invigorating soils across a range of locations appear to share common features, including accumulation of soil organic matter, higher microbial diversity, enrichment of key taxa like Chloroflexota and maintaining a competitive network. These findings have implications for science-based guidance for sustainable food production.