Abstract
The present study discussed the application of the intercropping system to improve land use efficacy and soil microbial activity. We assessed linkages of soil properties and unculturable diazotrophs community under three cultivation systems (monoculture sugarcane, peanut–sugarcane and soybean–sugarcane intercropping). Rhizosphere soil of sugarcane was sampled and DNA was extracted. We amplified the nifH gene and sequenced by high throughput sequencing. The bioinformatics analysis of sequenced data obtained a total of 436,458 nifH gene reads that are classified into 3201 unique operational taxonomic units (OTUs). A higher percentage of exclusive OTUs identified under soybean–sugarcane intercropping (< 375). The microbial structure results showed that Alpha-proteobacteria and Beta-proteobacteria were the dominant groups in all three cultivation systems. While genus such as Bradyrhizobium, Burkholderia, Pelomonas, and Sphingomonas was predominant in the intercropping systems and these diazotrophic bacterial communities were positively correlated to the soil pH and soil enzyme protease. Additionally, a lower quantity of available P in the soil of intercrops indicated a strong link between soil nutrients uptake and microbial activity. The results of the present study concluded some interesting facts of intercropping systems that positively improved the soil microbial activity and this kind of strategy could help to cultivate multiple crops to improve the economic growth of the country by sustainable sugarcane production.
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Funding
Present research work supported by Grants from GXAAS (No. GNKB2014021); the Grants from the National High Technology Research and Development Program (“863” Program) of China (2013AA102604), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31171504, 31101122, 31471449), Guangxi Special Funds for Bagui Scholars’s and Distinguished Experts, Guangxi Natural Science Foundation and Guangxi Academy of Agriculture Sciences Fund (2011GXNSFF018002, 2012GXNSFDA053011, 2013NXNSFAA019073 and GuiNongKe2014YD01).
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YRL, LTY designed the study. MKS, FYW and CNL conducted the experiments. MKS and ZW did the isolation and characterization of microbes. TJL supported data collection and analysis. MKS, CNL, RKS, PS, LTY and YRL wrote the manuscript.
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Solanki, M.K., Wang, FY., Li, CN. et al. Impact of Sugarcane–Legume Intercropping on Diazotrophic Microbiome. Sugar Tech 22, 52–64 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-019-00755-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-019-00755-4