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Evaluation of Bt cotton effects on belowground microbial community structure and function in tropical western India

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Abstract

An experiment was executed at field condition to evaluate ecological impact of Bt cotton (Mech 162 + Bt) on soil microbes and Bt protein behavior in soil. Root exudates of Bt cotton plant containing Bt protein enter into soil which persisted in soil for atleast 235 days after sowing (DAS). During vegetative and flowering stage, Bt protein was not detectable in both qualitative and quantitative assay but, during onset of boll formation at 150 DAS, a level of 0.0013 μg/g of Cry 1Ac protein was quantified in rhizospheric soil which further increased exponentially up to 0.0033 μg/g at 195 DAS and then maintained at the same level till 235 DAS with Cry1Ac expression level of 0.0029 μg/g soil. Rhizospheric soil of Bt cotton had significantly higher (p < 0.05) abundance of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) of gram positive bacteria. Abundance of polyunsaturated FAMEs that are indicators of fungi, were slightly higher in Bt as compared to non-Bt cotton soils. The metabolic profiling, also called community level physiological profiling (CLPP) showed more microbial functional diversity (Shannon–Wiener Diversity) in soil samples of different growth stages of Bt cotton than its corresponding non-Bt variety. Our results showed that Cry 1AC Bt protein persists in clay loamy soil even after harvesting and significantly altered microbial community composition and functional diversity in rhizospheric soil of Bt cotton than non-Bt. Any possible and unintentional changes in composition of root exudes of Bt cotton could regulate the selection of different microbial communities and thus can alter functional responses.

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Acknowledgements

Authors duly acknowledge Post Graduate School, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, New Delhi, India for providing all facilities and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), India for funding to execute this experiment.

Funding

Funding in the form of Junior Research Fellowship from Post Graduate School, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, New Delhi, India, was received by Dr. Namita Das Saha for executing this experiment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Environment Science and Climate Resilient Agriculture (CESCRA), ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, Room no: 114, New Delhi, 110012, India

    N. D. Saha, A. Chaudhary & A. K. Singh

  2. ICAR-Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (IASRI), Pusa, New Delhi, 110012, India

    A. Bhowmick

Authors
  1. N. D. Saha
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  2. A. Chaudhary
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  3. A. K. Singh
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  4. A. Bhowmick
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Contributions

Dr. NDS and Mr. AKS had executed the experiment, Dr. AC conceptualized the idea and monitored the experimental execution, Dr. AB helped in statistical analysis of data.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Chaudhary.

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Editorial responsibility: Jing Chen.

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Saha, N.D., Chaudhary, A., Singh, A.K. et al. Evaluation of Bt cotton effects on belowground microbial community structure and function in tropical western India. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 19, 7411–7424 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03543-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03543-4

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