Abstract
A 3-year field study was conducted to assess effects of two winter cover crops, Elbon rye (Secale cereal L.) and Crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.), under till and no till management, on bacterial community composition in soybean (Glycine max L.) field soils using high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Effects of tillage and cover crop on bacterial composition at the phylum level were minor, with most significant differences between treatments occurring at finer taxonomic levels. Tilled plots displayed higher levels of Xanthomonadaceae, while cover cropped soils had greater Bradyrhizobium abundances. Functional gene prediction indicated that genes associated with decomposition of C and P compounds, as well as biocontrol agents, were elevated in tilled plots, genes associated with root growth promotion were elevated in cover crop treatments, and nitrate reductase and denitrification genes were elevated in both no till and cover crop plots. While valuable functional insights can be gained from sequence analyses, not all differences observed at the sequencing level will translate into functional differences due to variation in gene expression, and further study is needed to validate which functions can be predicted from sequencing data.
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The author would like to thank Paige Goodlett for assistance in collecting and processing soil samples. Mention of trade names or commercial products is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the USDA. The USDA is an equal opportunity employer.
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The 16S rRNA sequencing data generated and analyzed during this study is available in NCBI’s Short Read Archive under Bioproject PRJNA663701.
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Tyler, H.L. Shifts in bacterial community in response to conservation management practices within a soybean production system. Biol Fertil Soils 57, 575–586 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-021-01550-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-021-01550-8