Abstract
Conservation tillage is an extensively used agricultural practice in northern China that alters soil texture and nutrient conditions, causing changes in the soil microbial community. However, how conservation tillage affects rhizosphere and bulk soil fungal communities during plant growth remains unclear. The present study investigated the effect of long-term (6 years) conservation (chisel plow, zero) and conventional (plow) tillage during wheat growth on the rhizosphere fungal community, using high-throughput sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene and quantitative PCR. During tillering, fungal alpha diversity in both rhizosphere and bulk soil were significantly higher under zero tillage compared to other methods. Although tillage had no significant effect during the flowering stage, fungal alpha diversity at this stage was significantly different between rhizosphere and bulk soils, with bulk soil presenting the highest diversity. This was also reflected in the phylogenetic structure of the communities, as rhizosphere soil communities underwent a greater shift from tillering to flowering compared to bulk soil communities. In general, less variation in community structure was observed under zero tillage compared to plow and chisel plow treatments. Changes in the relative abundance of the fungal orders Capnodiales, Pleosporales, and Xylariales contributed the highest to the dissimilarities observed. Structural equation models revealed that the soil fungal communities under the three tillage regimes were likely influenced by the changes in soil properties associated with plant growth. This study suggested that: (1) differences in nutrient resources between rhizosphere and bulk soils can select for different types of fungi thereby increasing community variation during plant growth; (2) tillage can alter fungal communities' variability, with zero tillage promoting more stable communities. This work suggests that long-term changes in tillage regimes may result in unique soil fungal ecology, which might influence other aspects of soil functioning (e.g., decomposition).
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
At tillering, zero tillage had higher fungal alpha diversity in rhizosphere and bulk soil than other methods.
- Taxon
- wheat
Triticum aestivume1 - Organ / stage
- tilleringe0
- Treatment
- zero tillagee0
- Outcome
- fungal alpha diversitye0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- other methodse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“During tillering, fungal alpha diversity in both rhizosphere and bulk soil were significantly higher under zero tillage compared to other methods”
e1“during wheat growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Tillage had no significant effect on fungal alpha diversity during flowering.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivume2
- Organ / stage
- flowering stagee0
- Treatment
- tillagee0
- Outcome
- fungal alpha diversitye1
- Direction
- no significant effecte0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“tillage had no significant effect during the flowering stage”
e1“fungal alpha diversity at this stage”
e2“during wheat growth”
Claim · model-written summary
At flowering, bulk soil had higher fungal alpha diversity than rhizosphere soil.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivume1
- Outcome
- fungal alpha diversitye0
- Direction
- highest diversitye0
- Comparator
- rhizospheree0
- Setting
- bulk soile0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“fungal alpha diversity at this stage was significantly different between rhizosphere and bulk soils, with bulk soil presenting the highest diversity”
e1“during wheat growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Rhizosphere fungal communities shifted more from tillering to flowering than bulk soil communities.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivume1
- Organ / stage
- tillering to floweringe0
- Outcome
- communitiese0
- Direction
- greater shifte0
- Comparator
- bulk soil communitiese0
- Setting
- rhizosphere soile0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“rhizosphere soil communities underwent a greater shift from tillering to flowering compared to bulk soil communities”
e1“during wheat growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Zero tillage had less variation in fungal community structure than plow and chisel plow.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivume1
- Treatment
- zero tillagee0
- Outcome
- variation in community structuree0
- Direction
- less variatione0
- Comparator
- plow and chisel plow treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“less variation in community structure was observed under zero tillage compared to plow and chisel plow treatments”
e1“during wheat growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Changes in abundance of three fungal orders contributed most to observed dissimilarity.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivume1
- Outcome
- dissimilaritiese0
- Qualifier
- Capnodiales, Pleosporales, and Xylarialese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Changes in the relative abundance of the fungal orders Capnodiales, Pleosporales, and Xylariales contributed the highest to the dissimilarities observed”
e1“during wheat growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Models suggested soil property changes associated with plant growth influenced fungal communities under all three tillage regimes.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivume1
- Treatment
- three tillage regimese0
- Outcome
- soil fungal communitiese0
- Qualifier
- likely influencede0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“soil fungal communities under the three tillage regimes were likely influenced by the changes in soil properties associated with plant growth”
e1“during wheat growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Differences in rhizosphere and bulk soil nutrients were suggested to select different fungi.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivume1
- Outcome
- community variatione0
- Qualifier
- differences in nutrient resources between rhizosphere and bulk soilse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“differences in nutrient resources between rhizosphere and bulk soils can select for different types of fungi thereby increasing community variation during plant growth”
e1“during wheat growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Zero tillage was suggested to promote more stable fungal communities.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivume1
- Treatment
- zero tillagee0
- Outcome
- more stable communitiese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“zero tillage promoting more stable communities”
e1“during wheat growth”
The same questions in other papers
tillage · ecology: diversity · Triticum aestivum (wheat)Results agree
4 papers in the same direction as this paper
- no effect
- no effect
- negative
1 paper more in this group
See all 5 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.