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Afterlife effect of cover crops on soil nematode food web: Implications from the plant ecological strategy

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Abstract

A trait-based approach is adopted to understand the responses of the soil nematode food web following cover crops incorporated into the soil, i.e., afterlife effect of plant. We conducted an in situ microcosm experiment with two cover crops including leguminous Astragalus sinicus L. (A. sinicus), characterized by high nutrient content, and gramineous Lolium multiflorum Lam (L. multiflorum), characterized by high C and lignin content, representing the acquisitive and conservative side of the economic spectrum, respectively. Furthermore, two incorporation rates were set to represent low and high biomass production of cover crops that could be incorporated into the soil. Soil main microbial groups, nematode food web, and physicochemical properties were analyzed at weeks 4 and 18 after cover crops incorporated into the soil. Results showed that, regardless of time, cover crops affected the abundance and composition of the soil nematode food web. L. multiflorum supported higher nematode abundance and more complex nematode food web than A. sinicus, charactering with higher fungivore/bacterivore, predator/prey, maturity index, and structure index, particularly under the high incorporation rates. In addition, A. sinicus improved much more resource availability (mineral N and dissolved organic C) than L. multiflorum. Together, the quantity and quality of plant residues jointly drive soil food web structure, and a trait-based framework facilitates the mechanical understanding of afterlife effect of plant on soil ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Misses Songjuan Gao, Jingxuan Chen, and Ting Liu who offered valuable help in the maintenance of field experiment and manuscript preparation.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D program (2021YFD1700202) and National Foundation of Sciences in China (42077047, 41877056).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soil Ecology Lab, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Chongzhe Zhang, Jingrong Xue, Na Li, Wenfeng Xue, Xiaoyun Chen, Feng Hu & Manqiang Liu

  2. Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, Key Laboratory of Biological Interaction and Crop Health, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Chongzhe Zhang, Xiaoyun Chen & Manqiang Liu

  3. Centre for Grassland Microbiome, State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730020, China

    Manqiang Liu

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  1. Chongzhe Zhang
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Zhang, C., Xue, J., Li, N. et al. Afterlife effect of cover crops on soil nematode food web: Implications from the plant ecological strategy. Biol Fertil Soils 58, 937–947 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-022-01676-3

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