Perennial grassland systems possess more complex bacterial communities and inter-domain networks across three land-use types

Abstract

Abstract Aims Continuous cropping is a common cropping practice in northeast China. This practice can positively or negatively impact soil microbial community. However, the response of rhizosphere microbial community structures, specific microbial taxa, and co-occurrence patterns to different continuous cropping systems are rarely tested.Methods In this study, soil samples were collected from the rhizosphere of three different continuous cropping systems (Corn, Alfalfa and Sheepgrass) were analyzed for microbial community (bacterial and fungal) composition and structural responses using an Illumina HiSeq high-throughput sequencing technique.Results Our results revealed that the α- and β-diversity indices of the fungal communities were significantly different across the three continuous cropping systems. The analysis of the molecular ecological network revealed that Alfalfa communities had the highest number of nodes and edges in the bacterial network while Sheepgrass had the highest number of nodes and edges in the fungal network. To distinguish differences between the co-occurring taxa among the three cropping systems, we compared the number of positive and negative links within and between microbial groups. This highlights that perennial grassland systems had more complex bacterial and inter-domain networks. Our inter-domain networks also revealed the predominant role of fungi as a key taxon in soil microbiome networks across the three land-use types.Conclusions Our results demonstrated that continuous cropping of perennial forage crops enhanced soil microbial diversity, network complexity and multifunctionality. Moreover, changes in microbiota characteristics are positively dependent on forage-induced changes in soil multifunctionality.