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Native soil fungi associated with compostable plastics in three contrasting agricultural settings

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Plastics are used widely as agricultural mulches to suppress weeds and retain soil moisture. Disposal of conventional plastic mulches requires physical removal for disposal in a landfill or incineration. Biodegradable plastic mulches that could be tilled into the soil at the end of a growing season represent an attractive alternative to conventional plastic mulches. In this study, three commercially available mulches labeled as “biodegradable” and one experimental, potentially biodegradable mulch were used during a tomato growing season, and then buried in field soil at three locations for approximately 6 months, as would occur typically in an agricultural setting. Degradation after 6 months in soil was minimal for all but the cellulosic mulch. After removal of mulches from soil, fungi were isolated from the mulch surfaces and tested for their ability to colonize and degrade the same mulches in pure culture. The majority of culturable soil fungi that colonized biodegradable mulches were within the family Trichocomaceae (which includes beneficial, pathogenic, and mycotoxigenic species of Aspergillus and Penicillium). These isolates were phylogenetically similar to fungi previously reported to degrade both conventional and biodegradable plastics. Under pure culture conditions, only a subset of fungal isolates achieved detectable mulch degradation. No isolate substantially degraded any mulch. Additionally, DNA was extracted from bulk soil surrounding buried mulches and ribosomal DNA was used to assess the soil microbial community. Soil microbial community structure was significantly affected by geographical location, but not by mulch treatments.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. Stephen Alderman and Dr. David Leaf provided expertise in obtaining light micrographs. Erin Macri and Charles Wandler provided expertise in scanning electron microscopy and gel permeation chromatography. Andrew Ely, Carl Evans, Ashley Florence, Briana Kinash, Megan Leonhard, Margaret Lind, Marianne Powell, and Maria McSharry provided excellent technical assistance and thoughtful discussions. This research was funded through a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Specialty Crops Research Initiative, Standard Research and Extension Project Grant Award No. 2009-02484. This work was also supported by Western Washington University (WWU) Research and Creative Opportunities for Undergraduates grants to M. McSharry and K. Kinloch and by a WWU Biology Chair Research Award to M. McSharry.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University, 15th and Detroit, Room 201, Mail Stop 2122, Lubbock, TX, 79409-3121, USA

    Jennifer Moore-Kucera

  2. Research and Testing Laboratory, LLC, 4321 Marsha Sharp FWY, Door #2, Lubbock, TX, 79407, USA

    Stephen B. Cox

  3. Department of Chemistry, Western Washington University, 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA, 98225-9150, USA

    Mark Peyron

  4. Biology Department, Mailstop 9160, Western Washington University, 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA, 98225-9150, USA

    Graham Bailes, Kevin Kinloch & Marion Brodhagen

  5. Department of Engineering Technology, Western Washington University, 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA, 98225-9150, USA

    Kalin Karich

  6. Northwestern Washington Research & Extension Center, Washington State University, 16650 State Route 536, Mount Vernon, WA, 98273, USA

    Carol Miles & Debra Ann Inglis

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Correspondence to Marion Brodhagen.

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Jennifer Moore-Kucera, Stephen B. Cox, and Mark Peyron contributed equally to this work.

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Moore-Kucera, J., Cox, S.B., Peyron, M. et al. Native soil fungi associated with compostable plastics in three contrasting agricultural settings. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98, 6467–6485 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-5711-x

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