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Long-term phosphorus fertilisation increased the diversity of the total bacterial community and the phoD phosphorus mineraliser group in pasture soils

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Abstract

Fertilisers, especially nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) supplies, are frequently used in agricultural soil management to attain high crop yields. However, the intensive application of these chemical inputs can decrease the quality of agricultural soils and increase the probability of environmental pollution. In this study, the impact of P fertilisation on the diversity of the soil bacterial community was assessed. For this, a culture-independent approach targeting 16 rRNA and phoD genes was used on DNA extracted from pasture soils subjected to three different P fertilisation regimes for a long-term (42 years). As alkaline phosphomonoesterase (ALP) is necessary for mineralisation of organic P, an inverse relationship between the level of potential ALP activity and soil available P was expected. Indeed, a lower ALP activity was observed in soil subjected to higher chemical P fertiliser input. Analysis of the prevalence of three divergent families of ALP (PhoA, PhoD and PhoX) in metagenomic datasets revealed that PhoD is the most frequent ALP in soil samples and was selected as the most representative ALP possessed by the soil bacterial communities. Diversity of the phoD phosphorus mineraliser group, as well as the total bacterial community, was both increased in response to long-term P fertilisation. Specifically, phosphorus fertilisation decreased the relative abundance of certain taxa, including Acidobacteria and Pseudomonas fluorescens. In conclusion, this study shows that P fertilisation affects the microbial diversity of soil ecosystems, which might potentially modulate the soil biogeochemical cycle.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by grants awarded by the Science Foundation of Ireland (04/BR/B0597, 07/IN.1/B948, 07/SK/B1236b, 08/RFP/GEN1319, 08/RFP/GEN1295, SFI09/RFP/BMT 2350); the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (DAF RSF 06-321, DAF RSF 06-377, FIRM 08/RDC/629); the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 2006-PhD-S-21, EPA 2008-PhD-S-2), the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRC EMBARK PD/2011/2414), the European Commission (FP6#036314, MTKD-CT2006-042062, TRAMWAYS, MicroB3-287589-OCEAN2012, MACUMBA-CP-TP 311975; PharmaSea-CP-TP 312184, EU 256596); and the Marine Institute (Beaufort award - C&CRA 2007/082) and the HRB (RP/2006/271, RP/2007/290, HRA/2009/146). The authors would like to acknowledge the Boole Centre for Research in Informatics at University College Cork for providing access to computational facilities.

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  1. BIOMERIT Research Centre, Microbiology Department, University College Cork, National University of Ireland, Cork, Ireland

    Hao Tan, Matthieu Barret, Marlies J. Mooij, Olivia Rice & Fergal O’Gara

  2. Microbiology Department, University College Cork, National University of Ireland, Cork, Ireland

    John P. Morrissey

  3. Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, National University of Ireland, Cork, Ireland

    Alan Dobson

  4. Environment Research Centre, Teagasc, Johnstown Castle, Ireland

    Bryan Griffiths

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  1. Hao Tan
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Correspondence to Fergal O’Gara.

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Tan, H., Barret, M., Mooij, M.J. et al. Long-term phosphorus fertilisation increased the diversity of the total bacterial community and the phoD phosphorus mineraliser group in pasture soils. Biol Fertil Soils 49, 661–672 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-012-0755-5

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