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Soil Microbial Community Interactions Under Tillage Systems in Australia

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Plant, Soil and Microbes

Abstract

For several years suboptimal land management, such as tillage and stubble burning, led to accelerated soil deterioration in Australia. The excessive use of tillage affected crop productivity and decreased soil health. Tillage can alter water and oxygen flow, soil structure, temperature and aggregate formation that directly or indirectly affect soil microbiomes. Microbial communities are involved in the different biogeochemical cycles and soil formation. Alterations to this habitat may compromise the productivity of soils. This chapter shows the impact of tillage on soil physicochemical properties and how these changes can affect the function and diversity of soil microbial communities. A better understanding of the soil properties interaction will help to improve land management and protect our soils from further deterioration.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the Grains Research & Development Corporation, Australia, for financial support and Mr. Andres Villamil for assistance with drawings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Microbe Interactions Laboratory, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Vivian A. Rincon-Florez, Lilia C. Carvalhais & Peer M. Schenk

  2. School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia

    Yash P. Dang

Authors
  1. Vivian A. Rincon-Florez
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  2. Lilia C. Carvalhais
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  3. Yash P. Dang
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  4. Peer M. Schenk
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peer M. Schenk .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

    Khalid Rehman Hakeem

  2. Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia

    Mohd Sayeed Akhtar

  3. Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia

    Siti Nor Akmar Abdullah

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Rincon-Florez, V.A., Carvalhais, L.C., Dang, Y.P., Schenk, P.M. (2016). Soil Microbial Community Interactions Under Tillage Systems in Australia. In: Hakeem, K., Akhtar, M., Abdullah, S. (eds) Plant, Soil and Microbes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27455-3_5

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