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Taxon-specific responses of soil microbial communities to different soil priming effects induced by addition of plant residues and their biochars

  • Biochar for a Sustainable Environment
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Abstract

Purpose

This work investigated changes in priming effects and the taxonomy of soil microbial communities after being amended with plant feedstock and its corresponding biochar.

Materials and methods

A soil incubation was conducted for 180 days to monitor the mineralization and evolution of soil-primed C after addition of maize and its biochar pyrolysed at 450 °C. Responses of individual microbial taxa were identified and compared using the next-generation sequencing method.

Results and discussion

Cumulative CO2 showed similar trends but different magnitudes in soil supplied with feedstock and its biochar. Feedstock addition resulted in a positive priming effect of 1999 mg C kg−1 soil (+253.7 %) while biochar gave negative primed C of −872.1 mg C kg−1 soil (−254.3 %). Linear relationships between mineralized material and mineralized soil C were detected. Most priming occurred in the first 15 days, indicating co-metabolism. Differences in priming may be explained by differences in properties of plant material, especially the water-extractable organic C. Predominant phyla were affiliated to Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, Firmicutes, Planctomycetes, Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Blastocladiomycota, Chytridiomycota, Zygomycota, Euryarchaeota, and Thaumarchaeota during decomposition. Cluster analysis resulted in separate phylogenetic grouping of feedstock and biochar. Bacteria (Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, Gemmatimonadetes, Planctomycetes), fungi (Ascomycota), and archaea (Euryarchaeota) were closely correlated to primed soil C (R 2 = −0.98, −0.99, 0.84, 0.81, 0.91, and 0.91, respectively).

Conclusions

Quality of plant materials (especially labile C) shifted microbial community (specific microbial taxa) responses, resulting in a distinctive priming intensity, giving a better understanding of the functional role of soil microbial community as an important driver of priming effect.

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Acknowledgments

This work was jointly supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (2014CB441003, 2011CB100502), the Natural Science Foundation of China (41371246, 41301250) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. Philip C. Brookes was also awarded a Thousand Talents Grant of the Chinese Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Subtropical Soil and Plant Nutrition, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Peng Su, Jun Lou, Philip C. Brookes, Yu Luo, Yan He & Jianming Xu

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  1. Peng Su
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  2. Jun Lou
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  3. Philip C. Brookes
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  4. Yu Luo
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  5. Yan He
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  6. Jianming Xu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Philip C. Brookes or Yu Luo.

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Responsible editor: Jizheng He

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Su, P., Lou, J., Brookes, P.C. et al. Taxon-specific responses of soil microbial communities to different soil priming effects induced by addition of plant residues and their biochars. J Soils Sediments 17, 674–684 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-015-1238-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-015-1238-8

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