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Total and active microbial communities and phoD as affected by phosphate depletion and pH in soil

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Abstract

Background and Aims

Soil microbial communities contribute to organic phosphorus cycling in a variety of ways, including secretion of the PhoD alkaline phosphatase. We sampled a long-term grassland fertilization trial in Switzerland characterized by a natural pH gradient. We examined the effects of phosphate depletion and pH on total and active microbial community structures and on the structure and composition of the total and active phoD-harboring community.

Methods

Archaeal, bacterial and fungal communities were investigated using T-RFLP and phoD-harboring members of these communities were identified by 454-sequencing.

Results

Phosphate depletion decreased total, resin-extractable and organic phosphorus and changed the structure of all active microbial communities, and of the total archaeal and phoD-harboring communities. Organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus increased with pH, and the structures of all total and active microbial communities except the total fungal community differed between the two pH levels. phoD-harboring members were affiliated to Actinomycetales, Bacilliales, Gloeobacterales, Planctomycetales and Rhizobiales.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that pH and associated soil factors are important determinants of microbial and phoD-harboring community structures. These associated factors include organic carbon and total nitrogen, and to a lesser degree phosphorus status, and active communities are more responsive than total communities. Key players in organic P mineralization are affiliated to phyla that are known to be important in organic matter decomposition.

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Abbreviations

ACP:

Potential acid phosphatase activity

ALP:

Potential alkaline phosphatase activity

MicC:

Microbial C

MicN:

Microbial N

MicP:

Microbial P

P:

Phosphorus

Porg :

Organic P

Pres :

Resin-extractable P

TN:

Total N

TOC:

Total organic C

TP:

Total P

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Stefan Zoller for the Perl scripts for taxonomy analysis and the Genetic Diversity Center (Zürich, Switzerland) for technical assistance. We also thank Monika Mascai for vegetation analyses, and Laurie Schönholzer for total C and N and TOC/N analyses. This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF, project number 140900).

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Author notes

  1. Else K. Bünemann

    Present address: Department of Soil Sciences, FiBL, Frick, Switzerland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Lindau, Switzerland

    Sabine A. Ragot, Emmanuel Frossard & Else K. Bünemann

  2. ETH Zurich – Plant Nutrition, Eschikon 33, 8315, Lindau, Switzerland

    Sabine A. Ragot

  3. Agroscope, Institute of Sustainable Sciences, Zürich, Switzerland

    Olivier Huguenin-Elie

  4. Centre for Carbon, Water and Food, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, University of Sydney, NSW, Sydney, Australia

    Michael A. Kertesz

Authors
  1. Sabine A. Ragot
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  2. Olivier Huguenin-Elie
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  3. Michael A. Kertesz
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  4. Emmanuel Frossard
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Correspondence to Sabine A. Ragot.

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Ragot, S.A., Huguenin-Elie, O., Kertesz, M.A. et al. Total and active microbial communities and phoD as affected by phosphate depletion and pH in soil. Plant Soil 408, 15–30 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-016-2902-5

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