Composting of Cow-Dung-Amended Soil by the Dung Beetle Catharsius molossus L. Improves Bacterial Ecological Functions Related to Nitrogen Mineralization and Human and Plant Pathogenesis

Author:

Kaleri Abdul Rasheed1,Ma Jiahua1,Jakhar Ali Murad1,Ahmed Awais1,Faqir Yahya1,Tan Chengjia2,Stanković Slaviša3ORCID,Raspor Martin4ORCID

Affiliation:

1. School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China

2. School of Life Science and Technology, Mianyang Teachers’ College, Mianyang 621000, China

3. Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, 11158 Belgrade, Serbia

4. Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković”—National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, 11108 Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract

The Asian dung beetle (Catharsius molossus L.; Coleoptera: Scarabeidae) has been shown to positively affect soil bacterial diversity and the agronomic features of crop plants. In this study, we used bioinformatic tools to investigate the differences in bacterial functional phenotypes and ecological functions between control soil, cow dung-amended soil (CD), and cow dung-amended soil composted by dung beetles (DB). The soil bacterial metagenomes were sequenced and analyzed with the bioinformatic packages BugBase, PICRUSt2, Tax4Fun, and FAPROTAX to evaluate the effects of dung beetle-mediated composting on bacterial functions such as human and plant pathogenicity, trophic strategies, and soil nutrient transformation. BugBase proved useful for the determination of differences in major functional phenotypes, whereas FAPROTAX was effective at identifying differences in bacterial ecological functions between the treatments. Both tools suggested a relative decrease in human pathogens in the DB soil. This was corroborated by the pairwise comparison of abundances in bacterial species, which showed a significant reduction in the abundance of the broad-host-range pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the DB soil. In addition, FAPROTAX suggested a decrease in plant pathogens and an increase in chitinolytic bacteria, meaning that the DB treatment might be beneficial to the plant-growth-promoting bacteria involved in biological control. Finally, FAPROTAX revealed an array of ecological functions related to trophic strategies and macro- and micronutrient metabolism. According to these results, the activity of C. molossus beetles enhanced methanotrophy, ammonification, nitrification, sulfate reduction, and manganese oxidation, whereas iron respiration was decreased in the DB-treated soil. Our results represent a collection of general insights into the effects of C. molossus beetles on soil bacterial functions, which also reflect on the nutrient composition of dung beetle-composted soil.

Funder

Sichuan Science and Technology Program

Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of Serbia

Publisher

MDPI AG

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