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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Symbiotic Interactions
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1487687

The impact of nutrient deficiency on the structure of soil microbial communities within a double-cropping system

Provisionally accepted
Rulan Yang Rulan Yang 1Zheng Sun Zheng Sun 1Yu Gong Yu Gong 1Peng Zhou Peng Zhou 1Jie Wang Jie Wang 1Xinping Zhang Xinping Zhang 1Dong Qiang Dong Qiang 2Fei Gao Fei Gao 3*
  • 1 College of Agriculture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, Shanxi, China
  • 2 Laboratory for Green Innovation, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, China
  • 3 Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong, China

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

    Long-term single fertilizer application has become the norm in the present agricultural production, which not only destroys the crop rotation system, but also negatively affects the soil environment and crop yields. The current knowledge of how nutrient deficits affect the microbial community structure in double cropping systems is still limited. To clarify the specific response of soil microorganisms to the absence of key nutrients in the ecosystems of the annual double cropping system, this study investigated how the lack of essential nutrients affected the diversity, abundance, and functional dynamics of microorganisms in the soil, and designed five treatment methods: (1) CK: no-fertilizer treatment; (2) NPK: adequate nitrogen fertilizer, phosphorus fertilizer, and potassium fertilizer treatment; (3) PK: nitrogen deficiency treatment; (4) NK: phosphorus deficiency treatment; (5) NP: and potassium deficiency treatment. The results showed that in two growing seasons, NPK treatment increased the yields of wheat and corn by 16.9% and 27.0%, respectively, while NK and NP treatments increased by 13.4%, 5.4%, 25.0%, and 17.9%, and the total annual yield increased by 21.1%. In addition, NPK treatment promoted the microbial diversity and abundance of wheat and maize, and balanced fertilization provided more comprehensive nutritional support for crops. Compared to other nutrient-deficient treatments, NPK treatment substantially increased the abundance and functional diversity of soil bacterial and fungal communities (P<0.05). The structure and abundance of soil microbial communities are significantly correlated with soil physicochemical factors that involve organic matter, pH, potassium content, phosphorus, and nitrogen levels. pH is the primary environmental factor influencing the diversity of soil microbial communities.

    Keywords: Bacteria, fungus, microbial community structure, Summer maize, winter wheat

    Received: 28 Aug 2024; Accepted: 02 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Sun, Gong, Zhou, Wang, Zhang, Qiang and Gao. 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: Fei Gao, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.