Addition of Exogenous Organic Ameliorants Mediates Soil Bacteriome and Microbial Community Carbon Source Utilization Pattern in Coastal Saline–Alkaline Soil

Abstract

Knowledge regarding how abiotic and biotic environmental factors operate in soil microbiome reassembly remains rudimentary in coastal saline–alkaline soils amended by different organic ameliorants. In this study, field trials were conducted to investigate the impacts and underlying mechanisms of sewage sludge (S) and sludge-based vermicompost (V) at the application amounts of 0, 50, and 100 t ha−1 on soil physicochemical characteristics, carbon source utilization pattern, and bacteriome in coastal saline–alkaline soils. Results revealed that impacts of the organic ameliorants on soil’s physicochemical and microbial attributes were highly dependent upon the carbon types and amounts applied. Unsurprisingly, applying sewage sludge and vermicompost significantly alleviated environmental constraints, such as saline–alkaline stress and nutrient deficiency, with lower pH, salinity, and higher soil organic carbon content observed in organics-amended soils. Specifically, higher microbial substrate metabolic activity, but lower diversity was observed in saline–alkaline soils amended by organic ameliorants. In addition, reassembled bacteriomes harboring distinguishable core and unique community profiles were observed in reclaimed soils as compared to unamended saline–alkaline soil. Procrustes analysis showed that the soil microbial utilization pattern of carbon sources was significantly related to the alterations in their physicochemical property and bacterial core microbiome. Additionally, Redundancy Analysis (RDA) revealed that soil core bacteriome reassembly was dominated by the integrated impacts of soil salinity, successively followed by carbohydrates, amino acids, polymers, pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), and available nitrogen (AN). Overall, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of soil abiotic and biotic determinants in bacteriome assembly in coastal saline–alkaline soil remediation mediated by organic ameliorants.