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Rhizosphere soil microbial community structure and microbial activity in set-aside and intensively managed arable land

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Abstract

The effects of plant species which frequently occur in set-aside arable land on rhizosphere soil properties were assessed and compared to rhizosphere soil of Secale cereale (Rye) grown on an intensively managed arable soil (sandy Cambisol, Saxony, NE-Germany). On a 6 year old set-aside arable land rhizosphere soil samples were taken under Agropyron repens, Cirsium arvense and Rumex acetosa, the most frequent plant species, and under the leguminous plant species Vicia villosa. Phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA) has been used to characterise the structure of the soil microbial community. Carbon mineralisation rates as well as gross (15N isotope pool dilution method) and net nitrogen mineralisation rates were determined as indicator of microbial activity. In intensive managed plots a rhizosphere effect was obvious in higher nutrient contents, gross N mineralisation rates and higher relative abundances of fungi and protozoa in Rye rhizosphere compared to bulk soil. Plant species altered rhizosphere microbial activity. Lowest gross N mineralisation and gross NH4 consumption rates were detected in Rye rhizosphere soil. Both rates revealed high positive correlations with dissolved organic carbon (extracted with KCl) and soil pH. The rhizosphere soil microbial communities of the three dominant plant species of the set-aside arable land (Agropyron, Cirsium, Rumex) were more similar to each other than to Vicia grown on the same set-aside plots and Rye grown on intensive managed plots. The highest number of non-identified PLFAs detected in Vicia rhizosphere soil suggests that microbial diversity was highest. Differences in quantity and quality of Vicia rhizodeposition, especially higher N contents, seem to induce the higher microbial activity and different microbial community structure. The rhizosphere soil of the dominant plant species on the set-aside and intensively managed arable land reflected the differences in bulk soil properties (obtained in a previous study) between the two management systems (e.g. pH, gross N mineralisation, metabolic quotient, PLFA marker characteristic of G− bacteria and fungi).

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ (Halle, Germany) for financial support of the project, Manuela Unger (Tharandt, Germany) for laboratory analysis and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.

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  1. Institute of Soil Science and Site Ecology, Dresden University of Technology, Pienner Str. 19, 01737, Tharandt, Germany

    Ute Hamer & Franz Makeschin

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  1. Ute Hamer
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  2. Franz Makeschin
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Correspondence to Ute Hamer.

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Responsible Editor: Petra Marschner.

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Hamer, U., Makeschin, F. Rhizosphere soil microbial community structure and microbial activity in set-aside and intensively managed arable land. Plant Soil 316, 57–69 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-008-9758-2

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