Alphaproteobacteria communities depend more on soil types than land managements

Abstract

Soil properties and agricultural practices take a joint effect on the communities of soil bacteria. The aim of the present study was to survey Alphaproteobacterial communities as possible indicators of soil quality considering clay, loamy and sandy soils under conventional and organic farming. Alphaproteobacteria community composition were analysed by 16S rRNA gene with nested-PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and denaturing gradient gelelectrophoresis (DGGE). Sequencing of partial 16S rRNA gene from the DGGE bands were performed. Conventional and organic farming resulted in significant differences in chemical properties of soils. According to the results community fingerprints were separated into groups depending on soil types and farming systems. This separation can be attributed mostly to soil pH, AL-P2O5,-K2O. The analysed sequences were identified as soil bacteria which could play the main role in nitrogen fixing, mineralisation and denitrification. The highest diversity index was revealed from the organic farming at sandy texture site, where mainly Mesorhizobium sp. and Rhizobium sp. were detected. The soil type and actual crop could have a stronger impact on the soil bacterial composition than the management.

Keywords

• conventional and organic farming systems
• dgge
• diversity of soil bacterial communities
• 16s rrna