Enhancing plant growth in biofertilizer-amended soil through nitrogen-transforming microbial communities

作者：Liangzhi Li, Zhengrong Hu, Ge Tan, Jianqiang Fan, Yiqiang Chen, Yansong Xiao, Shaolong Wu, Qiqi Zhi, Tianbo Liu, Huaqun Yin, Qianjun Tang · 发表于：Frontiers in Plant Science · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.3389/fpls.2023.1259853 · 被引用次数：45 · 研究领域：Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology、Legume Nitrogen Fixing Symbiosis、Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics

Biofertilizers have immense potential for enhancing agricultural productivity. However, there is still a need for clarification regarding the specific mechanisms through which these biofertilizers improve soil properties and stimulate plant growth. In this research, a bacterial agent was utilized to enhance plant growth and investigate the microbial modulation mechanism of soil nutrient turnover using metagenomic technology. The results demonstrated a significant increase in soil fast-acting nitrogen (by 46.7%) and fast-acting phosphorus (by 88.6%) upon application of the bacterial agent. This finding suggests that stimulated soil microbes contribute to enhanced nutrient transformation, ultimately leading to improved plant growth. Furthermore, the application of the bacterial agent had a notable impact on the accumulation of key genes involved in nitrogen cycling. Notably, it enhanced nitrification genes ( amo, hao , and nar ), while denitrification genes ( nir and nor ) showed a slight decrease. This indicates that ammonium oxidation may be the primary pathway for increasing fast-acting nitrogen in soils. Additionally, the bacterial agent influenced the composition and functional structure of the soil microbial community. Moreover, the metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) obtained from the soil microbial communities exhibited complementary metabolic processes, suggesting mutual nutrient exchange. These MAGs contained widely distributed and highly abundant genes encoding plant...