The practice of adding organic amendments to crop soils is undergoing resurgence as an efficient way to restore soil organic matter content and to improve soil quality. The quantity and quality of the organic matter inputs affect soil physicochemical properties and soil microbiota, influencing different parameters such as microbial biomass and diversity, community structure and microbial activi...

This study investigated the effects of soil crust development on the underlying soil properties. The field sampling work was conducted in June 2016 in the Hobq Desert in Inner Mongolia, North China. Soil crust samples and 0–6, 6–12, 12–18, 18–24, 24–30 cm deep underlying soil samples were taken from five representative areas of different soil crust development stages. All samples were analyzed ...

Tomato bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is one of the most destructive soil-borne diseases. Many strategies have been taken to improve soil suppressiveness against this destructive disease, but limited success has been achieved. In this study, a novel bioorganic fertilizer revealed a higher suppressive ability against bacterial wilt compared with several soil management methods i...

Tree species identity and tree genotypes contribute to the shaping of soil microbial communities. However, knowledge about how these two factors influence soil ecosystem functions is still lacking. Furthermore, in forest ecosystems tree genotypes co-occur and interact with each other, thus the effects of tree genotypic diversity on soil ecosystem functions merit attention. Here we investigated ...

Soil microorganisms have important influences on plant growth and health. In this study, four black pepper fields consecutively monocultured for 12, 18, 28 and 38 years were selected for investigating the effect of planting age on rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil microbial communities and soil physicochemical properties. The results revealed that the relative abundance of the dominant bacte...

Soil physicochemical properties, soil microbial biomass and bacterial community structures in a rice-wheat cropping system subjected to different fertilizer regimes were investigated in two seasons (June and October). All fertilizer regimes increased the soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen. Both fertilizer regime and time had a significant effect on soil physicochemical properties and ba...