Tea Plantation Intercropping Legume Improves Soil Ecosystem Multifunctionality and Tea Quality by Regulating Rare Bacterial Taxa
Microorganisms play essential roles in soil-ecosystem multifunctionality. However, the contribution of their community assembly processes, composition, diversity, and keystone species to ecosystem multifunctionality is unclear, especially in tea-plantation ecosystems. In order to assess the effects...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Agronomy |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/13/4/1110 |
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| author | Ting Wang Yu Duan Xiaogang Lei Yu Cao Lefeng Liu Xiaowen Shang Menghe Wang Chengjia Lv Yuanchun Ma Wanping Fang Xujun Zhu |
| author_facet | Ting Wang Yu Duan Xiaogang Lei Yu Cao Lefeng Liu Xiaowen Shang Menghe Wang Chengjia Lv Yuanchun Ma Wanping Fang Xujun Zhu |
| author_sort | Ting Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Microorganisms play essential roles in soil-ecosystem multifunctionality. However, the contribution of their community assembly processes, composition, diversity, and keystone species to ecosystem multifunctionality is unclear, especially in tea-plantation ecosystems. In order to assess the effects of various intercropping patterns (tea-plant monoculture and tea plants, respectively, intercropped with soybean, soybean—milk vetch, soybean—red clover, and soybean—smooth vetch) on soil rare and abundant taxa, a field experiment was carried out. We found that tea plantation intercropping with legumes improved the soil-ecosystem multifunctionality by altering the soil environment, and ultimately benefited nutrient absorption and quality improvement of tea leaves. Whether it was in bacteria or fungi, rare taxa had a higher proportion of deterministic processes in community assembly than abundant taxa. Additionally, intercropping practices changed the soil environment, and rare bacterial taxa were assembled and shifted from variable selection to homogeneous dispersal. Intercropping practices significantly changed the bacterial and fungal communities’ composition, and rare taxa had higher α-diversity than abundant taxa. Increasing legume species in intercropping practice enhanced community dissimilarity to the tea monoculture by affecting soil pH, ammonium nitrogen, and nitrate nitrogen. Rare bacterial and fungal β-diversity exhibited stronger positive relationships with ecosystem multifunctionality (both average and multi-threshold approaches) compared to the corresponding abundant taxa. Furthermore, ecosystem multifunctionality under different intercropping practices was closely related to the keystone rare operational taxonomic units, especially rare bacterial species of <i>Chloroflexi</i>. Our results emphasize the disparate feedbacks of rare and abundant taxa to diverse intercropping practices, as well as the important connection between rare bacterial taxa and ecosystem multifunctionality. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T05:19:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-43105903f831450eb6f8c53fe89ee613 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4395 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T05:19:46Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agronomy |
| spelling | doaj.art-43105903f831450eb6f8c53fe89ee6132023-11-17T17:57:44ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952023-04-01134111010.3390/agronomy13041110Tea Plantation Intercropping Legume Improves Soil Ecosystem Multifunctionality and Tea Quality by Regulating Rare Bacterial TaxaTing Wang0Yu Duan1Xiaogang Lei2Yu Cao3Lefeng Liu4Xiaowen Shang5Menghe Wang6Chengjia Lv7Yuanchun Ma8Wanping Fang9Xujun Zhu10College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaMicroorganisms play essential roles in soil-ecosystem multifunctionality. However, the contribution of their community assembly processes, composition, diversity, and keystone species to ecosystem multifunctionality is unclear, especially in tea-plantation ecosystems. In order to assess the effects of various intercropping patterns (tea-plant monoculture and tea plants, respectively, intercropped with soybean, soybean—milk vetch, soybean—red clover, and soybean—smooth vetch) on soil rare and abundant taxa, a field experiment was carried out. We found that tea plantation intercropping with legumes improved the soil-ecosystem multifunctionality by altering the soil environment, and ultimately benefited nutrient absorption and quality improvement of tea leaves. Whether it was in bacteria or fungi, rare taxa had a higher proportion of deterministic processes in community assembly than abundant taxa. Additionally, intercropping practices changed the soil environment, and rare bacterial taxa were assembled and shifted from variable selection to homogeneous dispersal. Intercropping practices significantly changed the bacterial and fungal communities’ composition, and rare taxa had higher α-diversity than abundant taxa. Increasing legume species in intercropping practice enhanced community dissimilarity to the tea monoculture by affecting soil pH, ammonium nitrogen, and nitrate nitrogen. Rare bacterial and fungal β-diversity exhibited stronger positive relationships with ecosystem multifunctionality (both average and multi-threshold approaches) compared to the corresponding abundant taxa. Furthermore, ecosystem multifunctionality under different intercropping practices was closely related to the keystone rare operational taxonomic units, especially rare bacterial species of <i>Chloroflexi</i>. Our results emphasize the disparate feedbacks of rare and abundant taxa to diverse intercropping practices, as well as the important connection between rare bacterial taxa and ecosystem multifunctionality.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/13/4/1110rare bacterial taxaintercropping legumeecosystem multifunctionalitytea-plantation soil |
| spellingShingle | Ting Wang Yu Duan Xiaogang Lei Yu Cao Lefeng Liu Xiaowen Shang Menghe Wang Chengjia Lv Yuanchun Ma Wanping Fang Xujun Zhu Tea Plantation Intercropping Legume Improves Soil Ecosystem Multifunctionality and Tea Quality by Regulating Rare Bacterial Taxa Agronomy rare bacterial taxa intercropping legume ecosystem multifunctionality tea-plantation soil |
| title | Tea Plantation Intercropping Legume Improves Soil Ecosystem Multifunctionality and Tea Quality by Regulating Rare Bacterial Taxa |
| title_full | Tea Plantation Intercropping Legume Improves Soil Ecosystem Multifunctionality and Tea Quality by Regulating Rare Bacterial Taxa |
| title_fullStr | Tea Plantation Intercropping Legume Improves Soil Ecosystem Multifunctionality and Tea Quality by Regulating Rare Bacterial Taxa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tea Plantation Intercropping Legume Improves Soil Ecosystem Multifunctionality and Tea Quality by Regulating Rare Bacterial Taxa |
| title_short | Tea Plantation Intercropping Legume Improves Soil Ecosystem Multifunctionality and Tea Quality by Regulating Rare Bacterial Taxa |
| title_sort | tea plantation intercropping legume improves soil ecosystem multifunctionality and tea quality by regulating rare bacterial taxa |
| topic | rare bacterial taxa intercropping legume ecosystem multifunctionality tea-plantation soil |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/13/4/1110 |
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