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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Terrestrial Microbiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1490034
This article is part of the Research Topic Microorganisms in Agricultural Soil: Advances and Challenges of Biological Health View all 5 articles

Long-term effects of combining anaerobic digestate with other organic waste products on soil microbial communities

Provisionally accepted
Daniela Mora-Salguero Daniela Mora-Salguero 1*Denis Montenach Denis Montenach 2Manon Gilles Manon Gilles 2Vincent Jean-Baptiste Vincent Jean-Baptiste 3Sophie Sadet-Bourgeteau Sophie Sadet-Bourgeteau 1,4
  • 1 INRA UMR1347 Agroécologie, Dijon, Burgundy, France
  • 2 INRA Centre Colmar, Strasbourg, Alsace, France
  • 3 Gaz Réseau de France (GRDF), Paris, France
  • 4 Institut Agro Dijon, Dijon, Burgundy, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Agriculture is undergoing an agroecological transition aimed at reducing chemical fertilizer inputs. In this context, digestates are emerging as sustainable substitutes for mineral fertilizers. However, large-scale application of digestates in agriculture requires rigorous studies to evaluate their long-term effects on soil microbial communities, crucial for ecosystem functioning. This study provides a comparative analysis under long-term field conditions of fertilization strategies combining annual applications of raw digestate with biennial applications of organic waste products (OWPs)—biowaste compost (BIO), farmyard manure (FYM), and urban sewage sludge (SLU)—and compares them to combinations of these OWPs with mineral fertilizers. The cumulative effects of repeated OWP applications, paired with two nitrogen sources—organic (digestate) and chemical (mineral fertilizer)—were assessed through soil physicochemical and microbial analyses. We hypothesized that effects varied with N-supply sources and depended on OWP types. Soil microbial communities were characterized using high-throughput sequencing targeting 16S and 18S ribosomal RNA genes from soil samples collected in 2022, six years after the initial digestate application. Results indicated that combining OWPs rich in stable organic matter, such as BIO and FYM, with digestate offers improved fertilization practices. This approach maintains soil organic carbon (SOC), increases soil phosphorus and potassium, and differently stimulates microbial communities compared to nitrogen from mineral fertilizers. While microbial biomass showed no significant variation, diversity indices differed by OWP and nitrogen source. Prokaryotic and fungal communities exhibited moderate treatment-dependent structural shifts, with fungal communities responding more strongly. This study provides insights into the cumulative effects of substituting mineral fertilizers with digestates on soil microbial communities and soil properties. Sustainable agroecosystems require a deeper understanding of soil microbial responses to diverse fertilization regimes. Future research should assess the long-term impacts of digestates on soil microbiota under real agronomic conditions.

    Keywords: anaerobic digestate, soil microbial communities, high-throughput sequencing, organic fertilizer, Inorganic fertilizer

    Received: 02 Sep 2024; Accepted: 20 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Mora-Salguero, Montenach, Gilles, Jean-Baptiste and Sadet-Bourgeteau. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Daniela Mora-Salguero, INRA UMR1347 Agroécologie, Dijon, 21065, Burgundy, France

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