Open Access

ARTICLE

Impact of Different Rates of Nitrogen Supplementation on Soil Physicochemical Properties and Microbial Diversity in Goji Berry

by Xiaojie Liang^1,2, Wei An², Yuekun Li², Yajun Wang², Xiaoya Qin², Yanhong Cui¹, Shuchai Su^1,*

1 State Key Laboratory of Efficient Production of Forest Resources, The College of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China
2 National Wolfberry Engineering Research Center, Wolfberry Science Research Institute, Ningxia Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Yinchuan, 750002, China

* Corresponding Author: Shuchai Su. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2024, 93(3), 467-486. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2024.047628

Received 12 November 2023; Accepted 25 January 2024; Issue published 28 March 2024

Abstract

Goji berry (Lycium barbarum L.) is substantially dependent on nitrogen fertilizer application, which can significantly enhance fruit yield and Goji berry industrial development in Ningxia, China. This study aimed to analyze the functions of differential nitrogen application rates including low (N1), medium (N2), and high (N3) levels in soil microbial community structure (bacterial and fungal) at 2 diverse soil depths (0–20, 20–40 cm) through high-throughput sequencing technology by targeting 16S RNA gene and ITS1 & ITS2 regions. All the observed physicochemical parameters exhibited significant improvement (p < 0.05) with increased levels of nitrogen and the highest values for most parameters were observed at N2. However, pH decreased (p < 0.05) gradually. The alpha and beta diversity analyses for bacterial and fungal communities’ metagenome displayed more similarities than differences among all groups. The top bacterial and fungal phyla and genera suggested no obvious (p > 0.05) differences among three group treatments (N1, N2, and N3). Furthermore, the functional enrichment analysis demonstrated significant (p < 0.05) enrichment of quorum sensing, cysteine and methionine metabolism, and transcriptional machinery for bacterial communities, while various saprotrophic functional roles for fungal communities. Conclusively, moderately reducing the use of N-supplemented fertilizers is conducive to increasing soil nitrogen utilization rate, which can contribute to sustainable agriculture practices through improved soil quality, and microbial community structure and functions.

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Keywords

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Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material File

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