Abstract
Soil microbial community plays crucial roles in promoting soil functions and maintaining soil health. Microbial functional gene abundances are actively involved in soil processes which supports soil functions and wider soil health. However, their suitability as indicators to assess soil health is still debatable. In this study, we sampled soils from a 10-year long-term fertilization experiment in a wheat-maize cropping system on the North China Plain. The treatment included no fertilizer (Control), chemical fertilizers only (NPK), NPK + organic manure, NPK + straw, and NPK + manure + straw. We quantified seventeen functional genes involved in carbon ( cbbL, GH31 ), nitrogen ( nifH, ureC, chiA, A-amoA, B-amoA, narG, nirK, nirS, norB and nosZ ), and phosphorus ( gltA, bpp, phoD, phoC, pqqC ) cycling. These genes were correlated with a suite of soil properties representing indicators of carbon (total carbon, organic carbon, and permanganate oxidizable carbon, α-1,4 glucosidase and carbon dioxide emission), nitrogen (total nitrogen, inorganic nitrogen, β-N-acetylglucosaminidase, and nitrous oxide emission), and phosphorous (available phosphorus, acid and alkaline phosphatase) pools/cycling. Soil microbial functional genes exhibited high coefficients of variation and strong sensitivity to fertilization treatments, while showing low variability among replicates within the same treatment. The abundances of functional genes, especially GH31, cbbL, B-amoA, chiA, phoC , and phoD were strongly correlated with their proxy indicators of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling. In addition, organic fertilization enhanced carbon and nutrients relevant functional gene abundances, generating positive effects on maize yield. These results indicate that microbial functional genes are sensitive to organic inputs and could provide a more detailed and mechanistic understanding of soil processes than conventional indicators by capturing the biochemical processes that govern nutrient dynamics. Our study underscores the potential of microbial functional genes as sensitive and valuable indicators for advancing soil health assessments and management practices. • Microbial functional genes were related to carbon and nutrient cycling. • Functional genes and proxy indicators for soil processes were highly correlated. • Functional genes were more sensitive to fertilization than proxy indicators. • Models showed strong relationships between functional genes and crop yield.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Abundances of GH31, cbbL, B-amoA, chiA, phoC and phoD functional genes were strongly correlated with proxy indicators of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling.
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Verbatim
e1“The abundances of functional genes, especially GH31, cbbL, B-amoA, chiA, phoC , and phoD were strongly correlated with their proxy indicators of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil microbial functional genes showed high coefficients of variation.
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e2“Soil microbial functional genes exhibited high coefficients of variation and strong sensitivity to fertilization treatments, while showing low variability among replicates within the same treatment”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil microbial functional genes showed strong sensitivity to fertilization treatments.
Not reportedTaxonDirection
Verbatim
e2“Soil microbial functional genes exhibited high coefficients of variation and strong sensitivity to fertilization treatments, while showing low variability among replicates within the same treatment”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil microbial functional genes showed low variability among replicates within the same treatment.
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Verbatim
e2“Soil microbial functional genes exhibited high coefficients of variation and strong sensitivity to fertilization treatments, while showing low variability among replicates within the same treatment”
Claim · model-written summary
Models showed strong relationships between functional genes and maize crop yield.
Zea maysNot reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e4“Models showed strong relationships between functional genes and crop yield”
e3“In addition, organic fertilization enhanced carbon and nutrients relevant functional gene abundances, generating positive effects on maize yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Organic fertilization had positive effects on maize yield.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e3“In addition, organic fertilization enhanced carbon and nutrients relevant functional gene abundances, generating positive effects on maize yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Organic fertilization enhanced carbon and nutrient-related functional gene abundances.
- Treatment
- organic fertilizatione3
- Outcome
- carbon and nutrients relevant functional gene abundancese3
- Direction
- enhancede3
Not reportedTaxonComparator
Verbatim
e3“In addition, organic fertilization enhanced carbon and nutrients relevant functional gene abundances, generating positive effects on maize yield”
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