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Microbial community assembly and metabolic function during wheat straw decomposition under different nitrogen fertilization treatments

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Abstract

In-depth microbial community characterization, a community-level metabolic function analysis, and biogeochemical assessments of residues were performed to understand the principles governing microbial community assembly in wheat straw during decomposition with different N fertilization rates in soil. We identified a suite of decomposition-associated bacterial and fungal groups in straw that contribute to C and N cycling. The decomposition-associated microbial community in straw is likely mainly derived from the original straw, and the bacterial and fungal communities showed different patterns along with the decomposition. Overall, the microbial community composition and function were not substantially affected by the N fertilization rate, but N fertilization significantly increased the straw microbial assembly speed and had significant effects on the abundances of certain taxa and C- and N-related genes, leading to different decomposition rates of straw under different N fertilization rates. Furthermore, the straw quality, especially dissolved organic C (DOC) and lignin, accounted for most observed effects on microbial community development and decomposition. The results provide new insight into the roles of the microbial community in straw during crop residue decomposition for nutrient cycling in farmland ecosystems.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Science Foundation of China (41701336 and 41807323), the National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents (BX201700200 and BX201700198), the NSFC-Yunnan United fund (U1302267), the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (31325005), the National Postdoctoral Program of China (2018M631185), and the Top International University Visiting Program for Outstanding Young scholars of Northwestern Polytechnical University.

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Correspondence to Ruiwu Wang or Weiming Yan.

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Zhong, Y., Liu, J., Jia, X. et al. Microbial community assembly and metabolic function during wheat straw decomposition under different nitrogen fertilization treatments. Biol Fertil Soils 56, 697–710 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-020-01438-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-020-01438-z

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