Abstract Mulching management have been proposed for protecting the soil surface in farmland. This study was a three-year field experiment to evaluate the effects of rice-straw mat mulching (RSMM) on the soil integrated fertility index (IFI). We measured the soil total organic carbon (TOC) and labile carbon fractions, and soil microbial community functional diversity in cinnamon soil and fluvo-aquic soil orchards. The RSMM significantly increased the contents of soil TOC, particulate organic carbon (POC), easily oxidized carbon (EOC) and available phosphorus (AP) in both orchards. Additionally, the soil light fraction organic carbon (LFOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) contents, and soil urease activity were significantly increased in the cinnamon soil orchard, and the soil alkaline nitrogen (AN) and available potassium (AK) contents increased in the fluvo-aquic soil orchard under RSMM. The microbial metabolic utilization of carbohydrates and amino acids, and the soil microbial functional diversity and apple fruit quality were improved by RSMM, while the microbial communities under RSMM had different metabolic functions in the two orchards. A comprehensive evaluation of soil quality based on the weighted coefficients determined by a principal component analysis of 17 fertility indicators showed that RSMM increased the IFI by 97.9 and 138.5 % in the cinnamon soil and fluvo-aquic soil orchards, respectively. The study demonstrated that RSMM can effectively improve the soil IFI by altering the soil organic carbon content and microbial community diversity, with the effects being more sensitive for the fluvo-aquic soil orchard than the cinnamon soil orchard.

中文翻译：

---

稻草覆盖提高苹果园在肉桂土和潮土上的土壤综合肥力指数

摘要 为了保护农田土壤表面，人们提出了覆盖管理。本研究是一项为期三年的田间试验，旨在评估稻草垫覆盖 (RSMM) 对土壤综合肥力指数 (IFI) 的影响。我们测量了肉桂土壤和潮水土壤果园的土壤总有机碳 (TOC) 和不稳定碳分数，以及土壤微生物群落功能多样性。RSMM 显着增加了两个果园中土壤 TOC、颗粒有机碳 (POC)、易氧化碳 (EOC) 和有效磷 (AP) 的含量。此外，肉桂土果园土壤轻质有机碳（LFOC）、溶解有机碳（DOC）和微生物生物量碳（MBC）含量以及土壤脲酶活性显着增加，RSMM下潮土果园土壤碱性氮（AN）和速效钾（AK）含量增加。RSMM改善了碳水化合物和氨基酸的微生物代谢利用、土壤微生物功能多样性和苹果果实品质，而RSMM下的微生物群落在两个果园中具有不同的代谢功能。基于17个肥力指标的主成分分析确定的加权系数对土壤质量进行综合评价表明，RSMM使肉桂土和潮土果园的IFI分别提高了97.9%和138.5%。研究表明，RSMM 可以通过改变土壤有机碳含量和微生物群落多样性来有效改善土壤 IFI，