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Agronomy
Special Issues
Nutrient Cycling and Microorganisms in Agroecosystems
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Nutrient Cycling and Microorganisms in Agroecosystems

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Agroecology Innovation: Achieving System Resilience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2024 | Viewed by 3268

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Wenjie Wan

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430070, China
Interests: agriculture; soil fertility; soil degradation; land use; crop production; phosphorus cycling; plant-growth-promoting bacteria; microbial ecology; ecosystem multifunctionality
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues，

Soil microorganisms play important ecological roles, including carbon decomposition, nitrogen fixation, phosphorus mineralization, and sulfur transformation. Soil ecosystem multifunctionality, regarded as an important indicator for reflecting nutrient cycling and retention, as well as plant diversity, makes it possible to qualitatively estimate the linkage between nutrient cycling and soil microorganisms. In agroecosystems, microbial diversity maintenance is subjected to the nutrient level, environmental filtering, ecological risk, biotic interaction, and so on. Microbial diversity relates closely to ecosystem multifunctionality in various agroecosystems. However, nutrient cycling, ecosystem multifunctionality, and microbial diversity maintenance in response to agricultural management (e.g., fertilization and irrigation) and climatic change remain largely unknown. Additionally, the contribution of core microorganisms mediating nutrient cycling to soil ecosystem multifunctionality is rarely investigated. Prosperous bioinformatic technology, including metagenomics, amplicon sequencing, and fast species identification system, can provide crucial information, and can advance our understanding of nutrient cycling and microorganisms in agroecosystem at a given site or on a global scale, allowing for better agricultural management.

With this Special Issue of Agronomy, we welcome papers on key nutrient cycling, nutrient cycling functional gene diversity in agroecosystems, the linkage between soil ecosystem multifunctionality and microbial diversity, and mechanisms underlying microbial diversity maintenance in agroecosystems. Moreover, we also encourage colleagues to submit papers on the contribution of ecosystem multifunctionality to crop yield in agroecosystems and papers that expose reasons underlying ecosystem multifunctionality difference between agricultural and nonagricultural soils.

Dr. Wenjie Wan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • nutrient cycling
  • microorganisms
  • agroecosystem
  • ecosystem multifunctionality
  • microbial biodiversity
  • crop yield

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1224 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Agriculture Practices: Utilizing Composted Sludge Fertilizer for Improved Crop Yield and Soil Health
by Lijun Li, He Li, Lihong Tong and Yizhong Lv
Agronomy 2024, 14(4), 756; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14040756 - 6 Apr 2024
Viewed by 884
Abstract
It is desirable to recycle sewage sludge as fertilizer for agricultural fields. The application of sludge to agricultural soils is a measure that replaces chemical fertilizers and plays an important role in improving soil’s physicochemical and biological properties. However, there are concerns that [...] Read more.
It is desirable to recycle sewage sludge as fertilizer for agricultural fields. The application of sludge to agricultural soils is a measure that replaces chemical fertilizers and plays an important role in improving soil’s physicochemical and biological properties. However, there are concerns that the pollutants in sewage sludge will cause negative impacts on soil health. To closely monitor the soil–sludge interactions, a field study was conducted over a 20-year period in the North China Plain. In this study, the long-term effects of sewage sludge on the soil properties and soil microbial diversity were investigated. We examined the effects of various fertilization methods (control, chemical fertilizer, uncomposted sludge fertilizer, composted sludge fertilizer) on wheat production and several soil health indicators, such as the soil’s enzymatic activities, microbial biomass, microbial diversity, and crop yield. This long-term experiment supports that the composted sludge fertilizer increased crop production by 124.2% compared to the control treatment. The soil’s biological quality (e.g., the concentration of soil microbial biomass carbon) was also improved under the composted sludge fertilizer treatment. The concentrations of soil microbial biomass carbon under the uncomposted sludge fertilizer and composted sludge fertilizer treatments were 560.07 mg/kg and 551.07 mg/kg, respectively. The effect of the composted sludge fertilizer was greater than that of the uncomposted sludge fertilizer. The content of heavy metals did not exceed the national standard. The highest soil health index was 0.79 with the composted sludge fertilizer. Therefore, these results suggest that the application of composted sludge fertilizer has the potential to enhance long-term soil health and promote sustainable agricultural practices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrient Cycling and Microorganisms in Agroecosystems)
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15 pages, 3182 KiB  
Article
Effects of Conventional Non-Biodegradable Film-Derived Microplastics and New Biodegradable Film-Derived Microplastics on Soil Properties and Microorganisms after Entering Sub-Surface Soil
by Xiaowei Liu, Wenliang Wei, Guocheng Liu, Bo Zhu, Jie Cui and Tao Yin
Agronomy 2024, 14(4), 753; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14040753 - 5 Apr 2024
Viewed by 385
Abstract
Plastic film mulching, widely used in agriculture, leads to microplastic (MP) pollution in soils. While biodegradable polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) films may offer a solution, their impacts on subsurface soils and microorganisms remain unclear. To investigate the effects of conventional non-biodegradable polyethylene (PE) [...] Read more.
Plastic film mulching, widely used in agriculture, leads to microplastic (MP) pollution in soils. While biodegradable polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) films may offer a solution, their impacts on subsurface soils and microorganisms remain unclear. To investigate the effects of conventional non-biodegradable polyethylene (PE) and biodegradable PBAT MPs on the properties of sub-surface soils and microbial communities, MPs were added at varying doses in a field experiment and incubated for 160 days. Physicochemical characteristics, nutrient dynamics, and microbial composition, diversity, and networks of soils were analyzed using standard techniques and 16S rRNA/ITS gene sequencing. Correlations between soil properties and microbes were assessed. Both MP types significantly altered soil characteristics, with PBAT-MP elevating pH and the levels of available phosphorus and potassium more than PE-MP. Microbial composition shifts occurred, with low-addition PBAT-MP promoting plastic-degrading genera. The assessment of α/β-diversity indicated that PBAT-MP predominantly influenced fungi while PE-MP impacted bacteria. An examination of microbial co-occurrence networks highlighted that PE-MP primarily disrupted fungal interactions, whereas PBAT-MP streamlined network complexity. Correlation analyses revealed that PBAT-MP promoted fungal diversity/network resilience correlating to nutrients. PE-MP and PBAT-MP significantly altered native soil/microbe relationships. PBAT-MP may exert greater, yet unknown, impacts over time through its biodegradation into newer and smaller fragments. Future research needs to integrate multi-omics and stable isotope science to elucidate the deep mechanistic impacts of degraded film-derived MPs on microbial ecological functions and biogeochemical cycles. Attention should also be paid to the long-term accumulation/transport of MPs in agricultural soils. Overall, this work deepens the impact and understanding of MPs from plastic film on sub-surface soil ecology. Furthermore, it provides a theoretical foundation for managing ‘white pollution’ in the film-covered farmlands of arid and semi-arid regions in China. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrient Cycling and Microorganisms in Agroecosystems)
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15 pages, 1361 KiB  
Article
Apple Growth and Yield in Replant Soils Supplemented by Organic Soil Additives
by Roxana Djalali Farahani-Kofoet, Daniel Schneider and Carmen Feller
Agronomy 2024, 14(4), 678; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14040678 - 26 Mar 2024
Viewed by 477
Abstract
Repeated apple cultivation in the same area leads to apple replant disease (ARD), which can probably be reduced by the use of organic supplements and selected rootstock/variety combinations. Soils at two conventionally and one organically farmed site in north-eastern Germany were tested for [...] Read more.
Repeated apple cultivation in the same area leads to apple replant disease (ARD), which can probably be reduced by the use of organic supplements and selected rootstock/variety combinations. Soils at two conventionally and one organically farmed site in north-eastern Germany were tested for ARD in pot trials. In subsequent field trials, the effects of champost, microbially carbonised compost, and coniferous wood shavings piled up like a dam (‘Müncheberger Damm’ (M)-dam) and of rootstock/variety combinations were tested. On the organic site, only leonardite and champost were tested. The pot trials indicated for all sites that the soil is affected by ARD. After five years, the growth increase in trunks in the M-dam was 20–40% higher than in controls and other treatments, depending on the site. On one site, the yield over four years was a 15.7% increase for M-dam and also for champost compared to controls, on the other site, it was 11.7% and 3.0%, respectively. The M.9 rootstock with the Gala variety had a higher, but insignificant, yield compared to G.11/Gala by 6.7 or 2.6%, depending on the site. No difference in trunk growth or yield with Topaz was observed at the organic farmed site. Further research on M-dam and champost is supported, as both are promising in terms of yield. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrient Cycling and Microorganisms in Agroecosystems)
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19 pages, 1468 KiB  
Article
Quantifying CO2 Emissions and Carbon Sequestration from Digestate-Amended Soil Using Natural 13C Abundance as a Tracer
by Gregory Reuland, Steven Sleutel, Haichao Li, Harmen Dekker, Ivona Sigurnjak and Erik Meers
Agronomy 2023, 13(10), 2501; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13102501 - 28 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1235
Abstract
The untapped potential for carbon sequestration in agricultural soils represents one of the most cost-effective tools for climate change mitigation. Increasing soil organic matter also brings other agronomic benefits such as improved soil structure, enhanced water-and-nutrient-retention capacity, and biological activity. Broadly, soil organic [...] Read more.
The untapped potential for carbon sequestration in agricultural soils represents one of the most cost-effective tools for climate change mitigation. Increasing soil organic matter also brings other agronomic benefits such as improved soil structure, enhanced water-and-nutrient-retention capacity, and biological activity. Broadly, soil organic carbon storage is achieved by increasing carbon inputs (plant residues and organic amendments) and reducing carbon outputs (soil loss mechanisms, decomposition). With a focus on carbon inputs—more specifically, organic amendments—as leverage to increase soil organic carbon, we compared the respiration rates and carbon storage of incubated soil cores amended with maize straw, manure, two digestates and the solid fraction of digestate. Using the variation in the natural 13C abundance found in C4 and C3 plants as a tracer, we were able to partition the CO2 emissions between the exogenous organic matter materials elaborated from maize (C4) and native soil organic carbon (C3). The addition of digestate resulted in an additional 65 to 77% of remaining organic carbon after 92 days. The digestate-derived CO2 was fitted to a second-order kinetic carbon model that accounts for the substrate C that is assimilated into the microbial biomass. The model predicted a carbon sequestration potential of 56 to 73% of the total applied organic carbon after one to two years. For the solid fraction, the results were higher, with 89% of the applied organic carbon after 92 days and a sequestration potential of 86%. The soil priming ranged from −19% to +136% in relation to the unamended control soil, highlighting a surprisingly wide spectrum of results that warrants the need for further research on soil–digestate interactions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrient Cycling and Microorganisms in Agroecosystems)
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