Abstract
Abstract Purpose Commercial production and the use of liquid vermicompost extract (LVE) is gaining attention as a technique that supports integrated soil-microbial-crop management for sustainable agriculture. However, the interaction effects of LVE, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and host plants on the delivery of agroecosystem services in alkaline soil have been less studied. Methods We carried out a 3-year field experiment in Central Italy, to investigate the short-term effect of LVE on soil mycorrhizal inoculum potential (MIP), AMF root colonization, and productivity of berseem clover, lentil, and sunflower. LVE produced in different years were screened for microbial properties using Illumina Miseq sequencing. LVE was applied at seeding, crop stem elongation and flowering stages. Control crops received water as a placebo. Results LVE bacterial communities were more diverse and showed a higher turnover between 2019 and 2020 than fungal communities. Diverse microbial groups, the majority of which belonged to phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Mucoromycota, were detected, including N-fixers ( Flavobacterium , Malikia, and Citrobacter ), P-solubilizers ( Pseudomonas ), and C-degraders ( Tolumonas , Arcobacter , and Mucor ). Notably, LVE treatment enhanced soil MIP and AMF root colonization in most crops, but selectively improved shoot biomass of berseem clover (+ 32%) and sunflower (+ 34%), and grain yield (+ 37%) and oil concentration (+ 5%) in sunflower, compared to the corresponding non-treated controls. Conclusions LVE had diverse groups of bacteria and a few fungal taxa, and its application enhanced mycorrhizal properties and selected growth- and yield-related variables in lentil, berseem clover, and sunflower. This could be due to LVE’s biostimulating effect arising from the vermicompost-associated microbiome and biomolecules.
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Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
LVE bacterial communities were more diverse than fungal communities.
Verbatim
e0“LVE bacterial communities were more diverse and showed a higher turnover between 2019 and 2020 than fungal communities”
e1“productivity of berseem clover, lentil, and sunflower”
Claim · model-written summary
LVE bacterial communities had higher turnover between 2019 and 2020 than fungal communities.
Verbatim
e0“LVE bacterial communities were more diverse and showed a higher turnover between 2019 and 2020 than fungal communities”
e1“productivity of berseem clover, lentil, and sunflower”
Claim · model-written summary
LVE contained diverse microbial groups including nitrogen fixers, phosphorus solubilizers and carbon degraders.
Verbatim
e0“Diverse microbial groups, the majority of which belonged to phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Mucoromycota, were detected, including N-fixers ( Flavobacterium , Malikia, and Citrobacter ), P-solubilizers ( Pseudomonas ), and C-degraders ( Tolumonas , Arcobacter , and Mucor )”
e1“productivity of berseem clover, lentil, and sunflower”
Claim · model-written summary
LVE enhanced soil mycorrhizal inoculum potential.
Verbatim
e0“LVE treatment enhanced soil MIP and AMF root colonization in most crops”
e1“productivity of berseem clover, lentil, and sunflower”
e2“Control crops received water as a placebo”
Claim · model-written summary
LVE enhanced AMF root colonization in most crops.
Verbatim
e0“LVE treatment enhanced soil MIP and AMF root colonization in most crops”
e1“productivity of berseem clover, lentil, and sunflower”
e2“Control crops received water as a placebo”
Claim · model-written summary
LVE increased berseem clover shoot biomass by 32% compared with untreated controls.
Verbatim
e0“selectively improved shoot biomass of berseem clover (+ 32%) and sunflower (+ 34%), and grain yield (+ 37%) and oil concentration (+ 5%) in sunflower, compared to the corresponding non-treated controls”
e1“LVE treatment”
Claim · model-written summary
LVE increased sunflower shoot biomass by 34% compared with untreated controls.
- Taxon
- sunflower
Helianthus annuuse0 - Treatment
- LVE treatmente1
- Outcome
- shoot biomasse0
- Direction
- improvede0
- Value
- + 34%e0
- Comparator
- non-treated controlse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“selectively improved shoot biomass of berseem clover (+ 32%) and sunflower (+ 34%), and grain yield (+ 37%) and oil concentration (+ 5%) in sunflower, compared to the corresponding non-treated controls”
e1“LVE treatment”
Claim · model-written summary
LVE increased sunflower grain yield by 37% compared with untreated controls.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuuse0
- Treatment
- LVE treatmente1
- Outcome
- grain yielde0
- Direction
- improvede2
- Value
- + 37%e0
- Comparator
- non-treated controlse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“grain yield (+ 37%) and oil concentration (+ 5%) in sunflower, compared to the corresponding non-treated controls”
e1“LVE treatment”
e2“selectively improved shoot biomass”
Claim · model-written summary
LVE increased sunflower oil concentration by 5% compared with untreated controls.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuuse0
- Treatment
- LVE treatmente1
- Outcome
- oil concentratione0
- Direction
- improvede2
- Value
- + 5%e0
- Comparator
- non-treated controlse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“oil concentration (+ 5%) in sunflower, compared to the corresponding non-treated controls”
e1“LVE treatment”
e2“selectively improved shoot biomass”
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