Vol. 63, 2024

(update: 2024.5.14)

Changes in Soil Bacterial and Nematode Communities during Long-term Continuous Cotton Cropping in an Arid Region

^1,2,*

¹Agricultural College, Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang 832003, P.R.China. *Correspondence: E-mail: fenghuazhang2021@163.com (Zhang)
    E-mail: 944564829@qq.com (Chen); 11930766498@qq.com (Yang); 2871632162@qq.com (Li); 2489634604@qq.com (Liu)
²Key Laboratory of Oasis Eco-agriculture, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang 832003, P.R.China

(Received 4 October 2022 / Accepted 27 December 2023 / Published 14 May 2024)
Communicated by Benny K.K. Chan

Clarifying the effects of continuous cotton cropping (CC) on soil biological communities is essential for maintaining agricultural productivity. In this study, high-throughput sequencing was used to study the effects of different CC durations (0-yr, 5-yr, 10-yr, 15-yr, 20-yr, and 25-yr CC treatments) on soil microbial and nematode communities. The results showed that the dominant bacterial phyla were Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria, and the dominant nematode genus was Helicotylenchus in all CC treatments. The richness indexes (ACE and Chao1 index) and diversity index (Shannon index) of bacterial and nematode communities were the highest in the 15-yr and 10-yr CC treatments, respectively. Bacterial community was significantly correlated with soil pH and available potassium (AK), and nematode abundance was significantly correlated with microbial biomass carbon (MBC). Soil bacterial PICRUSt analysis results showed that carbon metabolism and amino acid metabolism were the main metabolic functions of bacteria in the CC treatments. The composition and diversity of soil nematode communities were significantly related to the structure of soil bacterial communities, and the niche breadth of soil bacteria was negatively correlated with that of nematodes. Panagrolaimus and Acrobeles were the main genera of bacterial-feeding nematodes affecting bacterial communities, and their relative abundances were significantly positively correlated with the relative abundance of bacterial communities. Overall, long-term (10-15 years) continuous cotton cropping negatively impacts soil biota and microecological environment in cotton fields in arid regions.

Key words: Cotton, Continuous cropping, Soil bacteria, Soil nematode, High-throughput sequencing

Citation: Chen H, Zhang F, Yang L, Li Z, Liu J. 2024. Changes in soil bacterial and nematode communities during long-term continuous cotton cropping in an arid region. Zool Stud 63:05. doi:10.6620/ZS.2024.63-05.

Supplementary materials: Fig. S1丨Fig. S2丨Table S1丨Table S2丨Table S3丨Table S4丨Table S5丨Table S6