[Response of Bacterial and Fungal Communities to Chemical Fertilizer Reduction Combined with Organic Fertilizer and Straw in Fluvo-aquic Soil].

To investigate the effects of chemical fertilizer reduction combined with organic fertilizer and straw on bacterial and fungal communities in fluvo-aquic soil under a wheat-maize rotation system in North China, a field-oriented fertilization experiment was performed at a trial base in Ninghe District of Tianjin. The differences in composition, diversity, and structure of bacterial and fungal communities were evaluated using five fertilization patterns (chemical fertilizer, F; chemical fertilizer reduction, FR; chemical fertilizer reduction combined with straw, FRS; chemical fertilizer reduction combined with organic fertilizer, FRO; chemical fertilizer reduction combined with organic fertilizer and straw, FROS) using Illumina high-throughput sequencing technology. Further, the main soil environmental factors driving the alteration of bacterial and fungal communities under different fertilization treatments were explored in combination with soil chemical analysis. The results showed that adding organic fertilizer (FRO) significantly increased the SOM content. In comparison with the FRS treatment, the TP content in the FROS treatment significantly increased by 13.33%. The AP content increased significantly after applying the FRO and FROS treatment, and it increased by 18.03%-33.45% and 22.69%-38.72%, respectively, as compared to that with the other treatments. The NH4+-N content of FRO and FROS treatments was significantly higher than that of chemical fertilizer treatments (F and FR), which was 2.14 and 2.23 times that of F treatment, and 2.23 and 2.33 times that of FR treatment, respectively. Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Acidobacteria were the dominant bacterial phyla for all treatments, with Ascomycota being the dominant fungal phylum. Based on the chemical fertilizer reduction combined with organic fertilizer, the addition of straw (FROS) significantly decreased the relative abundance of Actinobacteria. Under the FRS and FROS treatments, a significant decrease in the relative abundance of Gemmatimonadetes was observed. Moreover, the FROS treatment caused a significant decrease in the relative abundance of Planctomycetes and Verrucomicrobia. As for the fungal community, the relative abundance of Ascomycota was significantly increased under the treatments applying organic fertilizer (FRO and FROS). In comparison with the FR treatment, the FROS treatment significantly decreased the relative abundance of Mortierellomycota and Olpidiomycota, and the FRS treatment also showed a significant inhibitory effect on the relative abundance of Mortierellomycota. The Shannon index of bacterial community of the FROS treatment was significantly reduced by 1.26% and 1.25% in comparison with the F and FR treatments, respectively; the Chao1 index increased by 4.51% as compared with that of the F treatment. The Shannon index of bacterial community exhibited a significantly positive correlation with available phosphorus as well as ammonium content (P<0.05). In comparison to the FR treatment, the FRS, FRO, and FROS treatments significantly decreased the Shannon index of fungal community by 29.85%, 24.94%, and 25.73%, respectively. A significantly positive relationship between the Shannon index of fungal community and available phosphorus content was observed. The community structure of bacteria of the FROS treatment was significantly different from that of F, FR, and FRO treatments, with the soil moisture, total phosphorus, pH, and available phosphorus as the major driving factors; the fungal community structure of the FRO and FROS treatments showed significant difference from that of the F and FR treatments, and the fungal community structure was mainly altered by total nitrogen, available phosphorus, and total phosphorus. In summary, our results indicated that the bacterial and fungal communities in fluvo-aquic soil exhibited a relatively strong response to the chemical fertilizer reduction combined with organic fertilizer and straw; meanwhile, the fungal community was also significantly influenced by chemical fertilizer reduction with organic fertilizer. Therefore, the organic fertilizer and straw drive the changes in the bacterial and fungal community composition, while improving the soil physicochemical properties. The fluvo-aquic fungi were more sensitive to the organic materials than the bacteria. Soil P was a common important influencing factor for regulating the bacterial and fungal community structure, and it should be paid full attention during the agricultural cultivation of fluvo-aquic soil.

[Effects of Transgenic Maize with cry1Ab and Epsps Genes C0030.3.5 on the Abundance and Community Structure of Soil Nitrogen-fixing Bacteria].

In order to evaluate the potential risk of planting transgenic corn on soil nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, in 2015, rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil samples were collected at the jointing stage, tassel stage, milky stage, and ripening stage, and the effects of transgenic maize with the cry1Ab and epsps genes on the abundance and diversity of soil nitrogen-fixing bacteria were studied by real-time quantitative PCR and T-RFLP. The results showed that the copy number of the diazotrophic nifH gene in the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil of transgenic maize with the cry1Ab and epsps genes (C0030.3.5) and its parental maize (DBN318) showed a trend where it first increased and then decrease with the growth stages, ranging between 2.99×107 and 7.02×107 copies·g-1. The abundance of the diazotrophic nifH gene in the rhizosphere soil and non-rhizosphere soil gene showed no significant difference between TM and PM in the same growth stage (P>0.05). The correlation analysis showed that the abundance of the diazotrophic nifH gene was positively correlated with the content of organic matter, but negatively correlated with water content. T-RFLP analysis yielded 14 T-RFs of different lengths, and 43-bp and 155-bp fragments were the dominant population. The community composition of nitrogen-fixing bacteria was the same as that of TM and PM in the rhizosphere soil and non-rhizosphere soil, and there was no significant difference between the TM and PM populations in the same growth period (P>0.05). The Shannon index and Evenness index of the diazotrophic nifH gene showed a trend where they first increased and then decreased with the growth period, and there was no significant difference in the Shannon index and Evenness index in the same growth stage between the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil samples. Principal component analysis(PCA) indicated that the composition of nitrogen-fixing bacteria was not different between TM and PM. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that soil ammonium, nitrogen, and pH were significantly correlated with composition of nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

[Effects of tillage methods on soil physicochemical properties and biological characteristics in farmland: A review].

Tillage methods affect soil heat, water, nutrients and soil biology in different ways. Reasonable soil management system can not only improve physical and chemical properties of the soil, but also change the ecological process of farmland soil. Conservation tillage can improve the quality of the soil to different degrees. For example, no-tillage system can effectively improve soil enzyme activity. No tillage and subsoiling tillage can provide abundant resources for soil microbe' s growth and reproduction. No tillage, minimum tillage and other conservation tillage methods exert little disturbance to soil animals, and in turn affect the quantity and diversity of the soil animals as well as their population structure. Effects of different tillage methods on soil physical and chemical properties as well as biological characteristics were reviewed in this article, with the soil physical and chemical indices, enzyme activities, soil microbe diversity and soil animals under different tillage patterns analyzed. The possibility of soil quality restoration with appropriate tillage methods and the future research direction were pointed out.

[Effects of different vegetation restoration patterns on the diversity of soil nitrogen-fixing microbes in Hulunbeier sandy land, Inner Mongolia of North China].

By using polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) and sequence analysis, this paper studied the nifH gene diversity and community structure of soil nitrogen-fixing microbes in Hulunbeier sandy land of Inner Mongolia under four years management of five vegetation restoration modes, i. e., mixed-planting of Agropyron cristatum, Hedysarum fruticosum, Caragana korshinskii, and Elymus nutans (ACHE) and of Agropyron cristatum and Hedysarum fruticosum (AC), and mono-planting of Caragana korshinskii (UC), Agropyron cristatum (UA), and Hedysarum fruticosum (UH), taking the bare land as the control (CK). There existed significant differences in the community composition of nitrogen-fixing microbes among the five vegetation restoration patterns. The Shannon index of the nifH gene was the highest under ACHE, followed by under AC, UC, UA, and UH, and the lowest in CK. Except that UH and CK had less difference in the Shannon index, the other four vegetation restoration modes had a significantly higher Shannon index than CK (P < 0.05). The phylogenetic analysis showed that the soil nitrogen-fixing microbes under UA, UH, and UC were mainly of cyanobacteria, but the soil nitrogen-fixing microbes under AC and ACHE changed obviously, mainly of proteobacteria, and also of cyanobacteria. The canonical correlation analysis showed that the soil total phosphorus, available phosphorus, total nitrogen, and nitrate nitrogen contents under the five vegetation restoration modes had significant effects on the nitrogen-fixing microbial communities, and there existed significant correlations among the soil total phosphorus, available phosphorus, total nitrogen, and nitrate nitrogen. It was suggested that the variations of the community composition of soil nitrogen-fixing microbes under the five vegetation restoration modes were resulted from the interactive and combined effects of the soil physical and chemical factors.

[Effects of different fertilizer application on soil active organic carbon].

The variation characteristics of the content and components of soil active organic carbon under different fertilizer application were investigated in samples of calcareous fluvo-aquic soil from a field experiment growing winter wheat and summer maize in rotation in the North China Plain. The results showed that RF (recommended fertilization), CF (conventional fertilization) and NPK (mineral fertilizer alone) significantly increased the content of soil dissolved organic carbon and easily oxidized organic carbon by 24.92-38.63 mg x kg(-1) and 0.94-0.58 mg x kg(-1) respectively compared to CK (unfertilized control). The soil dissolved organic carbon content under OM (organic manure) increased greater than those under NPK and single fertilization, soil easily oxidized organic carbon content under OM and NPK increased greater than that under single chemical fertilization. OM and NPK showed no significant role in promoting the soil microbial biomass carbon, but combined application of OM and NPK significantly increased the soil microbial biomass carbon content by 36.06% and 20.69%, respectively. Soil easily oxidized organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon and microbial biomass carbon accounted for 8.41% - 14.83%, 0.47% - 0.70% and 0.89% - 1.20% of the total organic carbon (TOC), respectively. According to the results, the fertilizer application significantly increased the proportion of soil dissolved organic carbon and easily oxidized organic carbon, but there was no significant difference in the increasing extent of dissolved organic carbon. The RF and CF increased the proportion of soil easily oxidized organic carbon greater than OM or NPK, and significantly increased the proportion of microbial biomass carbon. OM or RF had no significant effect on the proportion of microbial biomass carbon. Therefore, in the field experiment, appropriate application of organic manure and chemical fertilizers played an important role for the increase of soil active organic carbon content and the effective control of its key components.

[Optimization of conservation network system for inter-basin wetland ecosystem in Huang-Huai-Hai Region].

By using systematic conservation planning (SCP) method, and taking catchment as planning unit, an optimization of conservation network system for the inter-basin wetland ecosystem in Huang-Huai-Hai Region was conducted, with a comprehensive consideration of 3-dimensional (lateral, longitudinal and vertical) connectivity and Inter-basin Water Transfer Project and by the methods of irreplaceability analysis and gap identification. The efficacy of the optimized conservation network system was evaluated, as compared with the existing conservation network system. According to the principles of irreplaceability and connectivity, the wetland conservation gaps could be divided into two types, i.e. , be conserved in priority and in general. After the optimization, the conservation status of the inter-basin wetland ecosystem in Huang-Huai-Hai Region had an overall improvement. The conserved percentage of the wetland types was from about 20% up to 46.8%, and, for each wetland type, its conserved level increased to some extent, almost above 40%. Both in the near future and in the long term, more attention should be paid to the conservation of lake wetland. In addition, the integration of ecosystem service function and biodiversity and the combination of protection with restoration would be the main task for the wetland ecosystem conservation planning in the future.

[Diversity and community structure of soil ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in Hulunbeier Grassland, Inner Mongolia].

By the methods of polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and sequence analysis, a comparative study was conducted on the diversity and community structure of soil ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in the Filifolium sibiricum steppe, Stipa baicalensis steppe, Leymus chinensis steppe, Stipa grandis steppe, and Stipa kryrowi steppe in Hulunbeier Grassland, Inner Mongolia. A significant difference was observed in the community structure of soil ammonia-oxidizing bacteria among the five steppes, with the similarity lower than 50%. The diversity of soil ammonia-oxidizing bacteria was the highest in F. sibiricum steppe, followed by in S. baicalensis steppe, L. chinensis steppe, S. kryrowi steppe, and S. grandis steppe. In the five steppes, Nitrosospira cluster 3 was the dominant group, and the Nitrosospira cluster 1, 2, and 4 as well as Nitrosomonas were also found. The community structure of soil ammonia oxidizing bacteria in F. sibiricum steppe was most complex, while that in L. chinensis steppe and S. grandis steppe was relatively simple. Correlation analysis indicated that there existed significant positive correlations between the diversity of soil ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and the soil moisture, total nitrogen, total organic carbon, and C/N ratio (P<0.05).

[Effect of plantation of transgenic Bt cotton on the amount of rhizospheric soil microorganism and bacterial diversity in the cotton region of Yellow River basin].

Traditional culture-dependent method and PCR-DGGE were adopted to investigate the amount of microorganism and bacterial diversity in rhizospheric soil of transgenic Bt cotton in four provinces of Yellow River basin at four growth stages, i.e., 30, 60, 90, and 120 days after sowing. In the same province and at the same growth stage, no significant difference was observed in the amount of microorganism in rhizospheric soils of transgenic and non-transgenic Bt cottons. Within the same province the amount of microorganism was mainly affected by growth stage; while in different provinces, it was greatly affected by regional conditions. In the four provinces, the bacterial diversity in rhizospheric soil of transgenic Bt cotton was abundant; and in the same province and at the same growth stage, there were no significant differences in the Shannon index, evenness, and richness of bacteria in rhizospheric soils of transgenic and non-transgenic Bt cottons. In different provinces, the bacterial diversity in rhizospheric soils was dependent on regional conditions, but the difference was rather small.