Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Microbial 16S gene-based composition of a sorghum cropped rhizosphere soil under different fertilization managements

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biology and Fertility of Soils Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Driven by growing desertification and increases in the global demand for food, the necessity to adopt sustainable fertilization and crop management systems have greatly increased. In dryland soils, certain crops such as sorghum could provide important advantages. The impact of 3 years of N-fertilization with two rates of compost amendment on the composition of bacterial community of a Mediterranean soil cropped to sorghum was evaluated. The composition of bacterial communities of rhizospheric soil samples fertilized by urea (CT) or compost at single (COM1) or double doses (COM2), were compared to that of the bacterial communities from unfertilized rhizospheric soil (UF) and grassland soil (GS) by pyrosequencing. The highest number of sequences and OTUs were associated with rhizosphere soils treated with the double dose compost amendment (COM2), and analysis of alpha diversity clearly indicated a higher richness of this treated soil than other soils. Of the 16 bacterial phyla observed, Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria dominated. Actinobacteria abundance was higher in both compost-amended soils (COM1 and COM2) and GS than other investigated soils; Proteobacteria had the opposite trend. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were detected among class compositions of treatments. Most of the screened families belonged to α-Proteobacteria class. Species level analysis showed that GS and COM2-treated soil presented the highest percentage of unique OTUs; for 8 of the 14 most abundant OTUs, significant differences (P < 0.05) were found among soils. A clear distinction of bacterial communities of soil under different fertilization managements was observed from weighted as well as unweighted PCoA plots. Results from this in depth analysis clearly indicated that organic fertilization by compost, more than chemical fertilization by urea, can affect the composition of bacterial communities inhabiting the sorghum rhizosphere when compared to unfertilized soil and grassland soil.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acosta-Martínez V, Dowd SE, Sun Y, Allen V (2008) Tag-encoded pyrosequencing analysis of bacterial diversity in a single soil type as affected by management and land use. Soil Biol Biochem 40:2762–2770

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Acosta-Martínez V, Dowd SE, Bell CW, Lascano R, Booker JD, Zobeck TM, Upchurch DR (2010) Microbial community composition as affected by dryland cropping systems and tillage in a semiarid sandy soil. Diversity 2:910–931. doi:10.3390/d2060910

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ai C, Liang G, Sun J, Wuang X, Hen P, Zhou W, He X (2015) Reduced dependence of rhizosphere microbiome on plant-derived carbon in 32-year long-term inorganic and organic fertilized soils. Soil Biol Biochem 80:70–78. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.09.028

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bachar A, Al-Ashhab A, Soares MIM, Sklarz MY, Angel R, Ungar ED, Gillor O (2010) Soil microbial abundance and diversity along a low precipitation gradient. Microb Ecol 60:453–461

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bashir N, Malik SA, Mahmood S, Hassan M, Athar H-R, Athar M (2012) Influence of urea application on growth, yield and mineral uptake in two corn (Zea mays L.) cultivars. Afr J Biotechnol 11:10494–10503. doi:10.5897/AJB10.2357

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bastida F, Kandeler E, Moreno JL, Ros M, García C, Hernández T (2008) Application of fresh and composted organic wastes modifies structure, size and activity of soil microbial community under semiarid climate. Appl Soil Ecol 40:318–329. doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2008.05.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bulluck LR III, Brosius M, Evanylo GK, Ristaino JB (2002) Organic and synthetic fertility amendments influence soil microbial, physical and chemical properties on organic and conventional farms. Appl Soil Ecol 19:147–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caporaso JG, Kuczynski J, Stombaugh J, Bittinger K, Bushman FD, Costello EK, Fierer N, Peña AG, Goodrich JK, Gordon JI, Huttley GA, Kelley ST, Knights D, Koenig JE, Ley RE, Lozupone CA, McDonald D, Muegge BD, Pirrung M, Reeder J, Sevinsky JR, Turnbaugh PJ, Walters WA, Widmann J, Yatsunenko T, Zaneveld J, Knight R (2010) QIIME allows analysis of high-throughput community sequencing data. Nat Methods 7:335–336

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Caraux G, Pinloche S (2005) PermutMatrix: a graphical environment to arrange gene expression profiles in optimal linear order. Bioinformatics 21:1280–1281

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chaudhry V, Rehman A, Mishra A, Chauhan PS, Nautiyal CS (2012) Changes in bacterial community structure of agricultural land due to long-term organic and chemical amendments. Microb Ecol 64:450–460. doi:10.1007/s00248-012-0025-y

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coelho MRR, Da Mota FF, Carneiro NP, Marriel IE, Paiva E, Rosado AS, Seldin S (2007) Diversity of Paenibacillus spp. in the Rhizosphere of four sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) cultivars sown with two contrasting levels of nitrogen fertilizer assessed by rpoB-based PCR-DGGE and sequencing analysis. J Microbiol Biotechnol 17:753–760

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crecchio C, Curci M, Mininni R, Ricciuti P, Ruggiero P (2001) Short-term effects of municipal solid waste compost amendments on soil carbon and nitrogen content, some enzyme activities and genetic diversity. Biol Fertil Soils 34:311–318. doi:10.1007/s003740100413

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Drijber RA, Doran JW, Parkhurst AM, Lyon DJ (2000) Changes in soil microbial community structure with tillage under long-term wheat-fallow management. Soil Biol Biochem 32:1419–1430. doi:10.1016/S0038-0717(00)00060-2

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Esperschütz J, Gattinger A, Mäder P, Schloter M, Fliessbach A (2007) Response of soil microbial biomass and community structures to conventional and organic farming systems under identical crop rotations. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 61:26–37. doi:10.1111/j.1574-6941.2007.00318.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fierer N, Bradford MA, Jackson RB (2007) Toward an ecological classification of soil bacteria. Ecology 88:1354–1364

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frank JA, Reich CI, Sharma S, Weisbaum JS, Wilson BA, Olsen GJ (2008) Critical evaluation of two primers commonly used for amplification of bacterial 16S rRNA genes. Appl Environ Microbiol 74:2461–2470

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia SL, Jangid K, Whitman WB, Das KC (2011) Transition of microbial communities during the adaption to anaerobic digestion of carrot waste. Bioresour Technol 102:7249–7256

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gremion F, Chatzinotas A, Harms H (2003) Comparative 16S rDNA and 16S rRNA sequence analysis indicates that Actinobacteria might be a dominant part of the metabolically active bacteria in heavy metal-contaminated bulk and rhizosphere soil. Environ Microbiol 5:896–907

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hackl E, Zechmeister-Boltenstern S, Bodrossy L, Sessitsch A (2004) Comparison of diversities and compositions of bacterial populations inhabiting natural forest soils. Appl Environ Microbiol 70:5057–5065

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hartmann M, Fliessbach A, Oberholzer H-R, Widmer F (2006) Ranking the magnitude of crop and farming system effects on soil microbial biomass and genetic structure of bacterial communities. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 57:378–388. doi:10.1111/j.1574-6941.2006.00132.x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jangid K, Williams MA, Franzluebbers AJ, Sanderlin JS, Reeves JH, Jenkins MB, Endale DM, Coleman DC, Whitman WB (2008) Relative impacts of land-use, management intensity and fertilization upon soil microbial community structure in agricultural systems. Soil Biol Biochem 40:2843–2853

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Janssen PH (2006) Identifying the dominant soil bacterial taxa in libraries of 16S rRNA and 16S rRNA genes. Appl Environ Microbiol 72:1719–1728. doi:10.1128/AEM.72.3.1719-1728.2006

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones RT, Robeson MS, Lauber CL, Hamady M, Knight R, Fierer N (2009) A comprehensive survey of soil acidobacterial diversity using pyrosequencing and clone library analyses. ISME J 3:442–453

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kopecky J, Kyselkova M, Omelka M, Cermak L, Novotna J, Grundmann GL, Moënne-Loccoz Y, Sagova-Mareckova M (2011) Actinobacterial community dominated by a distinct clade in acidic soil of a waterlogged deciduous forest. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 78:386–394. doi:10.1111/j.1574-6941.2011.01173.x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koyama A, Wallenstein MD, Simpson RT, Moore JC (2014) Soil bacterial community composition altered by increased nutrient availability in Arctic tundra soils. Front Microbiol 5:516. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2014.00516

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lacey J (1973) Actinomycetes in soils, composts and fodders. In: Sykes G, Skinner FA (eds) Actinomycetales: characteristics and practical importance. Academic, New York, pp 231–251

    Google Scholar 

  • Lagos LM, Navarrete OU, Maruyama F, Crowley DE, Cid FP, Mora ML, Jorquera MA (2014) Bacterial community structures in rhizosphere microsites of ryegrass (Lolium perenne var. Nui) as revealed by pyrosequencing. Biol Fertil Soils 50:1253–1267. doi:10.1007/s00374-014-0939-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LaPara TM, Nakatsu CH, Pantea L, Alleman JE (2000) Phylogenetic analysis of bacterial communities in mesophilic and thermophilic bioreactors treating pharmaceutical wastewater. Appl Environ Microbiol 66:3951–3959

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lauber CL, Strickland MS, Bradford MA, Fierer N (2008) The influence of soil properties on the structure of bacterial and fungal communities across land-use types. Soil Biol Biochem 40:2407–2415

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lauber CL, Hamady M, Knight R, Fierer N (2009) Pyrosequencing-based assessment of soil pH as a predictor of soil bacterial community structure at the continental scale. Appl Environ Microbiol 75:5111–5120. doi:10.1128/AEM.00335-09

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Layton AC, Karanth PN, Lajoie CA, Meyers AJ, Gregory IR, Stapleton RD, Taylor DE, Sayler GS (2000) Quantification of Hyphomicrobium populations in activated sludge from an industrial wastewater treatment system as determined by 16S rRNA analysis. Appl Environ Microbiol 66:1167–1174

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee JA, Caporn SJM (1998) Ecological effects of atmospheric reactive nitrogen deposition on semi-natural terrestrial ecosystems. New Phytol 139:127–134

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee SH, Ka JO, Cho JC (2008) Members of the phylum Acidobacteria are dominant and metabolically active in rhizosphere soil. FEMS Microbiol Lett 285:263–269

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lozupone C, Knight R (2005) UniFrac: a new phylogenetic method for comparing microbial communities. Appl Environ Microbiol 71:8228–8235

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lupwayi NZ, Rice WA, Clayton GW (1998) Soil microbial diversity and community structure under wheat as influenced by tillage and crop rotation. Soil Biol Biochem 30:1733–1741. doi:10.1016/S0038-0717(98)00025-X

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mäder P, Fliessbach A, Dubois D, Gunst L, Fried P, Niggli U (2002) Soil fertility and biodiversity in organic farming. Science 296:1694–1697

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Männistö MK, Tiirola M, Häggblom MM (2007) Bacterial communities in Arctic fields of Finnish Lapland are stable but highly pH-dependent. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 59:452–465

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marilley L, Hartwig UA, Aragno M (1999) Influence of an elevated atmospheric CO2 content on soil and rhizosphere bacterial communities beneath Lolium perenne and Trifolium repens under field conditions. Microb Ecol 38:39–49

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marschner P, Yang C-H, Lieberei R, Crowley D (2001) Soil and plant specific effects on bacterial community composition in the rhizosphere. Soil Biol Biochem 33:1437–1445. doi:10.1016/S0038-0717(01)00052-9

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Martiny AC, Jørgensen TM, Albrechtsen HJ, Arvin E, Molin S (2003) Long-term succession of structure and diversity of a biofilm formed in a model drinking water distribution system. Appl Environ Microbiol 69:6899–6907

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nacke H, Thürmer A, Wollherr A, Will C, Hodac L, Herold N, Schöning I, Schrumpf M, Daniel R (2011) Pyrosequencing-based assessment of bacterial community structure along different management types in German forest and grassland soils. PLoS One 6:e17000. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017000

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ng JP, Hollister EB, González-Chávez MDC, Hons FM, Zuberer DA, Aitkenhead-Peterson JA, Loeppert R, Gentry TJ (2012) Impacts of cropping systems and long-term tillage on soil microbial population levels and community composition in dryland agricultural setting. ISRN Ecol 2012:1–11. doi:10.5402/2012/487370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Piqueres A, Edel-Hermann V, Alabouvette C, Steinberg C (2006) Response of soil microbial communities to compost amendments. Soil Biol Biochem 38:460–470. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2005.05.025

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roesch LFW, Fulthorpe RR, Riva A, Casella G, Hadwin AKM, Kent AD, Daroub SH, Camargo FAO, Farmerie WG, Triplett EW (2007) Pyrosequencing enumerates and contrasts soil microbial diversity. ISME J 1:283–290

    CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rousk J, Bååth E, Brookes PC, Lauber CL, Lozupone C, Caporaso JG, Knight R, Fierer N (2010) Soil bacterial and fungal communities across a pH gradient in an arable soil. ISME J 4:1340–1351. doi:10.1038/ismej.2010.58

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saison C, Degrange V, Oliver R, Millard P, Commeaux C, Montange D, Le Roux X (2006) Alteration and resilience of the soil microbial community following compost amendment: effects of compost level and compost-borne microbial community. Environ Microbiol 8:247–257. doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2005.00892.x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sarathchandra SU, Ghani A, Yeates GW, Burch G, Cox NR (2001) Effect of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers on microbial and nematode diversity in pasture soils. Soil Biol Biochem 33:953–964

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schloss PD, Westcott SL, Ryabin T, Hall JR, Hartmann M, Hollister EB, Lesniewski RA, Oakley BB, Parks DH, Robinson CJ, Sahl JW, Stres B, Thallinger GG, Van Horn DJ, Weber CF (2009) Introducing mothur: open-source, platform-independent, community-supported software for describing and comparing microbial communities. Appl Environ Microbiol 75:7537–7541. doi:10.1128/AEM.01541-09

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schloss PD, Gevers D, Westcott SL (2011) Reducing the effects of PCR amplification and sequencing artifacts on 16S rRNA-based studies. PLoS One 6(12):e27310. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0027310

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shange RS, Ankumah RO, Ibekwe AM, Zabawa R, Dowd SE (2012) Distinct soil bacterial communities revealed under a diversely managed agroecosystem. PLoS One 7:e40338. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0040338

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smalla K, Wieland G, Buchner A, Zock A, Parzy J, Kaiser S, Roskot N, Heuer H, Berg G (2001) Bulk and rhizosphere soil bacterial communities studied by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis: plant-dependent enrichment and seasonal shifts revealed. Appl Environ Microbiol 67:4742–4751. doi:10.1128/AEM.67.10.4742-4751.2001

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smit E, Leeflang P, Gommans S, van den Broek J, van Mil S, Wernars K (2001) Diversity and seasonal fluctuations of the dominant members of the bacterial soil community in a wheat field as determined by cultivation and molecular methods. Appl Environ Microbiol 67:2284–2291

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson FJ (1986) Cycles of soil: carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, micronutrients. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Taiz L, Zeiger E (2010) Plant physiology, 5th edn. Sinauer Associates Publishers, Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang JJ, Li XY, Zhu AN, Zhang XK, Zhang HW, Liang WJ (2012) Effects of tillage and residue management on soil microbial communities in North China. Plant Soil Environ 58:28–33

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wu M, Qin H, Chen Z, Wu J, Mei W (2011) Effect of long-term fertilization on bacterial composition in rice paddy soil. Biol Fertil Soils 47:397–405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang S, Wen X, Jin H, Wu Q (2012) Pyrosequencing investigation into the bacterial community in permafrost soils along the China-Russia Crude Oil Pipeline (CRCOP). PLoS One 7:e52730. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0052730

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Youssef NH, Elshahed MS (2009) Diversity rankings among bacterial lineages in soil. ISME J 3:305–313

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang N, Wan S, Li L, Bi J, Zhao M, Ma K (2008) Impacts of urea N addition on soil microbial community in a semi-arid temperate steppe in northern China. Plant Soil 311:19–28. doi:10.1007/s11104-008-9650-0

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao J, Ni T, Li Y, Xiong W, Ran W, Shen B, Shen Q, Zhang R (2014) Responses of bacterial communities in arable soils in a rice-wheat cropping system to different fertilizer regimes and sampling times. PLoS One 9:e85301. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0085301

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge FISR (Fondo Integrativo Speciale per la Ricerca) funding from Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (MIUR) for the “MESCOSAGR” project coordinated by Prof. A. Piccolo, Naples (IT), and locally by Prof. P. Ruggiero.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carmine Crecchio.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lavecchia, A., Curci, M., Jangid, K. et al. Microbial 16S gene-based composition of a sorghum cropped rhizosphere soil under different fertilization managements. Biol Fertil Soils 51, 661–672 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-015-1017-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-015-1017-0

Keywords

Navigation