Changes in the Soil Microbiome in Eggplant Monoculture Revealed by High-Throughput Illumina MiSeq Sequencing as Influenced by Raw Garlic Stalk Amendment

Abstract

The incorporation of plant residues into soil can be considered a keystone sustainability factor in improving soil structure function. However, the effects of plant residue addition on the soil microbial communities involved in biochemical cycles and abiotic stress phenomena are poorly understood. In this study, experiments were conducted to evaluate the role of raw garlic stalk (RGS) amendment in avoiding monoculture-related production constraints by studying the changes in soil chemical properties and microbial community structures. RGS was applied in four different doses, namely the control (RGS0), 1% (RGS1), 3% (RGS2), and 5% (RGS3) per 100 g of soil. The RGS amendment significantly increased soil electrical conductivity (EC), N, P, K, and enzyme activity. The soil pH significantly decreased with RGS application. High-throughput Illumina MiSeq sequencing revealed significant alterations in bacterial community structures in response to RGS application. Among the 23 major taxa detected, Anaerolineaceae, Acidobacteria, and Cyanobacteria exhibited an increased abundance level. RGS2 increased some bacteria reported to be beneficial including Acidobacteria, Bacillus, and Planctomyces (by 42%, 64%, and 1% respectively). Furthermore, internal transcribed spacer (ITS) fungal regions revealed significant diversity among the different treatments, with taxa such as Chaetomium (56.2%), Acremonium (4.3%), Fusarium (4%), Aspergillus (3.4%), Sordariomycetes (3%), and Plectosphaerellaceae (2%) showing much abundance. Interestingly, Coprinellus (14%) was observed only in RGS-amended soil. RGS treatments effectively altered soil fungal community structures and reduced certain known pathogenic fungal genera, i.e., Fusarium and Acremonium. The results of the present study suggest that RGS amendment potentially affects the microbial community structures that probably affect the physiological and morphological attributes of eggplant under a plastic greenhouse vegetable cultivation system (PGVC) in monoculture.