Plant Soil Environ., 2016, 62(7):321-328 | DOI: 10.17221/19/2016-PSE

Relationship between microbial functions and community structure following agricultural intensification in South American ChacoOriginal Paper

C. Pérez-Brandán1, J. Huidobro1, M. Galván1, S. Vargas-Gil2, J.M. Meriles3
1 National Agricultural Technology Institute, Salta, Argentina
2 Institute of Plant Pathology, National Agricultural Technology Institute, Córdoba, Argentina
3 Multidisciplinary Institute of Plant Biology, Institute of Science and Food Technology,

Intensification of agricultural systems through the use of intensive agriculture and the advance of deforestation have led to a decrease of soil biological quality. Soil functional and structural microbiota are sensitive parameters to monitor changes caused by agricultural use. Different sites under soybean monoculture (continuous soybean) and soybean/maize rotation practices were selected. Samples were collected from agricultural soils under different periods of implantation: 4-year rotation; 15-year rotation; 5-year monoculture; and 24-year monoculture (M24). A site of native vegetation recently under agricultural production (RUA) was also sampled. Native vegetation soils (NV) adjacent to agricultural sites were sampled as a control. In general, the results showed that RUA and M24 had lower enzyme activities, less microbial abundance and low physical and chemical soil quality than those subjected to crop rotation. In contrast, both the bacterial and total microbial biomasses were significantly higher in NV and crop rotation than in soils under monoculture systems. Although it was expected that differences in microbial activities would be due to changes in microbial community abundance, the results indicated that changes in soil management produced faster alterations to soil enzyme activities than any modifications induced in the microbial community structure. Consequently, both aspects of microbial diversity, namely function and structure, were affected independently by agricultural intensification.

Keywords: soil microbiology; phospholipid fatty acids; soil enzymes; microbial activity; sustainable management

Published: July 31, 2016  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Pérez-Brandán C, Huidobro J, Galván M, Vargas-Gil S, Meriles JM. Relationship between microbial functions and community structure following agricultural intensification in South American Chaco. Plant Soil Environ. 2016;62(7):321-328. doi: 10.17221/19/2016-PSE.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Adam G., Duncan H. (2001): Development of a sensitive and rapid method for the measurement of total microbial activity using fluorescein diacetate (FDA) in a range of soils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 33: 943-951. Go to original source...
    2. Alef K. (1995): Estimation of Soil Respiration. London, Harcourt Brace, Academic Press.
    3. Aziz I., Mahmood T., Islam K.R. (2013): Effect of long term notill and conventional tillage practices on soil quality. Soil and Tillage Research, 131: 28-35. Go to original source...
    4. Bending G.D., Turner M.K., Jones J.E. (2002): Interactions between crop residue and soil organic matter quality and the functional diversity of soil microbial communities. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 34: 1073-1082. Go to original source...
    5. Black C.A. (1965): Methods of Soil Analysis. Madison, American Society of Agronomy. Go to original source...
    6. Blake G.R., Hartge K.H. (1986): Bulk Density. Wisconsin, American Society of Agronomy. Go to original source...
    7. Bossio D.A., Girvan M.S., Verchot L., Bullimore J., Borelli T., Albrecht A., Scow K.M., Ball A.S., Pretty J.N., Osborn A.M. (2005): Soil microbial community response to land use change in an agricultural landscape of western Kenya. Microbial Ecology, 49: 50-62. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    8. Bray R.H., Kurtz L.T. (1945): Determination of total organic, and available forms of phosphorus in soils. Soil Science, 59: 39-45. Go to original source...
    9. Bremner J.M. (1996): Nitrogen - Total. Madison, American Society of Agronomy.
    10. Chen H.Q., Hou R.X., Gong Y.S., Li H.W., Fan M.S., Kuzyakov Y. (2009): Effects of 11 years of conservation tillage on soil organic matter fractions in wheat monoculture in Loess Plateau of China. Soil and Tillage Research, 106: 85-94. Go to original source...
    11. Costantini A., De-Polli H., Galarza C., Rossiello R.P., Romaniuk R. (2006): Total and mineralizable soil carbon as affected by tillage in the Argentinean Pampas. Soil and Tillage Research, 88: 274-278. Go to original source...
    12. Corvalán E., Franzoni A., Huidobro J., Arzeno J.L. (2002): Microtamices method for determining the stability of soil aggregates. Proceedings of the XVII Argentine Congress of Soil Science. Mar del Plata. Commission I and Panel 25.
    13. García C., Hernández T., Costa F. (1997): Potential use of dehydrogenase activity as an index of microbial activity in degraded soils. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 28: 123-134. Go to original source...
    14. Havlicek E. (2012): Soil biodiversity and bioindication: From complex thinking to simple acting. European Journal of Soil Biology, 49: 80-84. Go to original source...
    15. Montecchia M.S., Correa O.S., Soria M.A., Frey S.D., García A.F., Garland J.L. (2011): Multivariate approach to characterizing soil microbial communities in pristine and agricultural sites in Northwest Argentina. Applied Soil Ecology, 47: 176-183. Go to original source...
    16. Nannipieri P., Giagnoni L., Renella G., Puglisi E., Ceccanti B., Masciandaro G., Fornasier F., Moscatelli M.C., Marinari S. (2012): Soil enzymology: Classical and molecular approaches. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 48: 743-762. Go to original source...
    17. Pankhurst C.E., Magarey R.C., Stirling G.R., Blair B.L., Bell M.J., Garside A.L. (2003): Management practices to improve soil health and reduce the effects of detrimental soil biota associated with yield decline of sugarcane in Queensland, Australia.
    18. Pérez-Brandán C., Huidobro J., Grümberg B., Scandiani M.M., Luque A.G., Meriles J.M., Vargas-Gil S. (2014): Soybean fungal soil-borne diseases: A parameter for measuring the effect of agricultural intensification on soil health. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 60: 73-84. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    19. Sinsabaugh R.L., Hill B.H., Shah J.J.F. (2009): Ecoenzymatic stoichiometry of microbial organic nutrient acquisition in soil and sediment. Nature, 462: 795-798. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    20. Spedding T.A., Hamel C., Mehuys G.R., Madramootoo C.A. (2004): Soil microbial dynamics in maize-growing soil under different tillage and residue management systems. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 36: 499-512. Go to original source...
    21. Tabatabai M.A., Dick W.A. (2002): Enzymes in Soil: Research and Developments in Measuring Activities. New York, Marcel Dekker. Go to original source...
    22. Tiecher T., dos Santos D.R., Calegari A. (2012): Soil organic phosphorus forms under different soil management systems and winter crops, in a long term experiment. Soil and Tillage Research, 124: 57-67. Go to original source...
    23. Velmourougane K., Venugopalan M.V., Bhattacharyya T., Sarkar D., Pal D.K., Sahu A., Ray S.K., Nair K.M., Prasad J., Singh R.S. (2013): Soil dehydrogenase activity in agro-ecological sub regions of black soil regions in India. Geoderma, 197-198: 186-192. Go to original source...
    24. Volante J.N., Alcaraz-Segura D., Mosciaro M.J., Viglizzo E.F., Paruelo J.M. (2012): Ecosystem functional changes associated with land clearing in NW Argentina. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 154: 12-22. Go to original source...
    25. Wienhold B.J., Varvel G.E., Doran J.W. (2005): Quality of Soil. Oxford, Encyclopedia of Soil in the Environment. Go to original source...
    26. Zhang B., Li Y.J., Ren T.S., Tian Z.C., Wang G., He X.Y., Tian C.J. (2014): Short-term effect of tillage and crop rotation on microbial community structure and enzyme activities of a clay loam soil. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 50: 1077-1085. Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content