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Cover crops in citrus orchards impact soil nutrient cycling and the soil microbiome after three years but effects are site-specific

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Abstract

Despite the increased use of cover crops (CCs) in grain and vegetable agroecosystems, CC effects on soil nutrient availability, fruit yield, and the soil microbiome in fruit orchard agroecosystems have been less explored. To address these issues, we planted two CC-mixtures (legumes and non-legumes and non-legumes only) in the inter-row middles of two commercial Florida citrus orchards (COA and COB) for three years. Traditional weedy row middles under grower standard management were used as a control (GSC). In COA, planting either CC mixture for three years significantly increased soil organic matter content and ammonium compared to the GSC and were related to increased bacteria, archaea, and nitrogen-cycling gene abundances. Planting CCs significantly increased alpha diversity, altered bacterial and fungal community composition, and increased the relative abundance of potentially beneficial bacterial taxa in COA. The use of CCs also increased bacterial and fungal network complexity and increased specific predicted bacterial functions and fungal guilds in COA after three years compared to the GSC. However, limited CC impacts on soil properties and microbial communities were observed in COB, likely due to lower CC establishment compared to COA. During the three years, CCs had no significant impact on fruit yield in both citrus orchards compared to the GSC. Overall, our results illustrate that although CCs promote changes in soil nutrient cycling and the soil microbiome in Florida citrus orchards, these changes can be site-specific and differ between fruit orchards under the same management and soil type.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our thanks to Miurel Brewer for assistance with cover crop biomass and weed assessments, and Rachel Berner, Diderot Saintilma, and Brittney Monus for assistance with sample collection and DNA extraction. We also thank the commercial citrus grower for providing space and tree care for this study.

Funding

This study was supported with funds from the Citrus Research and Development Foundation grant 18-059C and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch project 7000945.

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Correspondence to Antonio Castellano-Hinojosa or Sarah L. Strauss.

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Castellano-Hinojosa, A., Kanissery, R. & Strauss, S.L. Cover crops in citrus orchards impact soil nutrient cycling and the soil microbiome after three years but effects are site-specific. Biol Fertil Soils 59, 659–678 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-023-01729-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-023-01729-1

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