Changes in Soil Chemistry and Microbial Communities in Rhizospheres of Planted Gastrodia elata on a Barren Slope and under a Forest

Xie, Xia; Shi, Rui; Yan, Xinru; Zhang, Ao; Wang, Yonggui; Jiao, Jinlong; Yu, Yang; Horowitz, Abraham Rami; Lu, Jincai; He, Xiahong

doi:10.3390/f15020331

Open AccessArticle

Changes in Soil Chemistry and Microbial Communities in Rhizospheres of Planted Gastrodia elata on a Barren Slope and under a Forest

by

Xia Xie

^1,†,

Rui Shi

^1,†

,

Xinru Yan

¹,

Ao Zhang

²,

Yonggui Wang

¹,

Jinlong Jiao

¹,

Yang Yu

²,

Abraham Rami Horowitz

³,

Jincai Lu

^2,* and

Xiahong He

^1,*

¹

Key Laboratory for Forest Resources Conservation and Utilization in the Southwest Mountains of China, Ministry of Education, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China

²

School of Traditional Chinese Materia Medica, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, China

³

Katif Research Center, Ministry of Science and Technology, Sedot Negev, 85200, Israel

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Forests 2024, 15(2), 331; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020331

Submission received: 18 January 2024 / Revised: 31 January 2024 / Accepted: 5 February 2024 / Published: 8 February 2024

(This article belongs to the Section Forest Soil)

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Abstract

Continuous cropping of the important achlorophyllous medicinal orchid Gastrodia elata Blume causes an imbalance in soil microecology leading to soil-borne diseases. However, the impacts on different land covers remain largely unknown. Hence, this study aimed to investigate changes in the soil nutrient composition and the global microbial community structure in rhizospheres of G. elata cultivated on a barren slope (HPGJ) and under a forest (LXT) using integrated shotgun metagenomics and an analysis of soil chemical properties. High-throughput sequencing revealed an increase in the abundance of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Mucoromycota, Basidiomycota, and Ascomycota, which drive N- and C-cycling genes in HPGJ and LXT. Notably, the fungal community was significantly improved in the HPGJ (from 0.17% to 23.61%) compared to the LXT (from 0.2% to 2.04%). Consequently, mineral cycling was enhanced in the HPGJ, resulting in a more improved soil nutrient composition than in the LXT. The soil chemical properties analysis unveiled a significant increase in the contents of the total nitrogen, NO₃⁻-N, organic matter, total carbon, organic carbon, total sulfur, and total phosphorus in the HPGJ, while no changes were recorded in the LXT. It was noteworthy that the abundance of pathogenic microorganisms increased significantly in the HPGJ compared to the LXT. Our results provide supporting data to optimize G. elata cultivation on slopes.

Keywords: Gastrodia elata; metagenomics; soil chemical properties; mineral element cycling; soil microecology; pathogenic microbes

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MDPI and ACS Style

Xie, X.; Shi, R.; Yan, X.; Zhang, A.; Wang, Y.; Jiao, J.; Yu, Y.; Horowitz, A.R.; Lu, J.; He, X. Changes in Soil Chemistry and Microbial Communities in Rhizospheres of Planted Gastrodia elata on a Barren Slope and under a Forest. Forests 2024, 15, 331. https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020331

AMA Style

Xie X, Shi R, Yan X, Zhang A, Wang Y, Jiao J, Yu Y, Horowitz AR, Lu J, He X. Changes in Soil Chemistry and Microbial Communities in Rhizospheres of Planted Gastrodia elata on a Barren Slope and under a Forest. Forests. 2024; 15(2):331. https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020331

Chicago/Turabian Style

Xie, Xia, Rui Shi, Xinru Yan, Ao Zhang, Yonggui Wang, Jinlong Jiao, Yang Yu, Abraham Rami Horowitz, Jincai Lu, and Xiahong He. 2024. "Changes in Soil Chemistry and Microbial Communities in Rhizospheres of Planted Gastrodia elata on a Barren Slope and under a Forest" Forests 15, no. 2: 331. https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020331

APA Style

Xie, X., Shi, R., Yan, X., Zhang, A., Wang, Y., Jiao, J., Yu, Y., Horowitz, A. R., Lu, J., & He, X. (2024). Changes in Soil Chemistry and Microbial Communities in Rhizospheres of Planted Gastrodia elata on a Barren Slope and under a Forest. Forests, 15(2), 331. https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020331

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Changes in Soil Chemistry and Microbial Communities in Rhizospheres of Planted Gastrodia elata on a Barren Slope and under a Forest

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