Management changes in rice production alter microbial community

Abstract

Because of an impending ban on burning of residues, more rice growers will be incorporating rice straw in their fields and will depend more than ever on soil microbes to break down the straw and aid rice production the following season. A variety of methods were used to characterize the effects of various rice straw management methods and winter flooding on the microbial community in a typical rice soil. Microbial biomass increased in straw-incorporated plots by the second year, and both flooding and rice straw incorporation caused changes in the relative abundances of specific groups of microorganisms. Although the heavy clay soil and wide variety of soil water contents in this study posed problems for microbial analyses, promising results were obtained with a biochemical characterization of phospholipids of soil microbes. This type of analysis can provide insight into management effects on soil microbial communities.