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Agronomy
Volume 15
Issue 7
10.3390/agronomy15071572
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Biofertilizers Enhance Soil Fertility and Crop Yields Through Microbial Community Modulation

by
Xu Zhang
1,2,
Lei Zhang
3,
Junjie Liu
1,*,
Zongzuan Shen
4,5,
Zhuxiu Liu
1,
Haidong Gu
1,
Xiaojing Hu
1,
Zhenhua Yu
1,
Yansheng Li
1,
Jian Jin
1 and
Guanghua Wang
1
1
State Key Laboratory of Black Soils Conservation and Utilization, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin 150081, China
2
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China
3
Institute of Rural Revitalization Technology, Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin 150023, China
4
Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab of Solid Organic Waste Utilization, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Solid Organic Wastes, Educational Ministry Engineering Center of Resource-Saving Fertilizers, The Key Laboratory of Plant Immunity, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
5
The Sanya Institute of the Nanjing Agricultural University, Sanya 572000, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Agronomy 2025, 15(7), 1572; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15071572 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 6 May 2025 / Revised: 6 June 2025 / Accepted: 18 June 2025 / Published: 27 June 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Microbe and Nematode Communities in Agricultural Systems)
Versions Notes

Abstract

Soil microorganisms play critical roles in mediating soil fertility. Exploring the effect of fertilization on soil microbial communities is of great importance to comprehend the sustainability of agriculture. However, the impacts of the application of different fertilization techniques on soil microbial communities remain ambiguous due to inconsistent findings across studies. In this study, we investigated changes in soil microbial communities under different fertilization techniques (chemical fertilizer (CK), organic fertilizer (OF), Bacillus-amended biofertilizer (BF), and Trichoderma-amended biofertilizer (MF)) and analyzed the link between soil fertility improvement and crop yield increase from a microbial perspective. Compared to the CK treatment, the BF and MF treatments increased corn yields by 16.07% and 12.98%, and soybean yields by 17.48% and 15.32%, respectively. BF tends to increase soil available phosphorus, whereas MF demonstrates a more pronounced enhancement in both available phosphorus and NH4+-N contents. These differential effects were primarily linked to changes in the microbial community. Specifically, BF significantly enriched Bacillus, Rhodanobacter, Massilia, Mortierella, and Tetracladium, while the MF selectively increased the abundances of Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia, Trichoderma, Penicillium, and Sistotrema. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed that biofertilizers enhanced microbial network stability and complexity compared to conventional fertilization techniques. Moreover, structural equation modeling (SEM) confirmed strong and positive relationships between crop yields and the abundances of specific probiotic microorganisms. These findings elucidate the mechanism-specific roles of biofertilizers in agricultural systems and provide novel insights for developing targeted biofertilizer formulations to advance sustainable agricultural practices.
Keywords: biofertilizer; soil microbial community; soil properties; co-occurrence networks; crop yield biofertilizer; soil microbial community; soil properties; co-occurrence networks; crop yield

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MDPI and ACS Style

Zhang, X.; Zhang, L.; Liu, J.; Shen, Z.; Liu, Z.; Gu, H.; Hu, X.; Yu, Z.; Li, Y.; Jin, J.; et al. Biofertilizers Enhance Soil Fertility and Crop Yields Through Microbial Community Modulation. Agronomy 2025, 15, 1572. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15071572

AMA Style

Zhang X, Zhang L, Liu J, Shen Z, Liu Z, Gu H, Hu X, Yu Z, Li Y, Jin J, et al. Biofertilizers Enhance Soil Fertility and Crop Yields Through Microbial Community Modulation. Agronomy. 2025; 15(7):1572. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15071572

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhang, Xu, Lei Zhang, Junjie Liu, Zongzuan Shen, Zhuxiu Liu, Haidong Gu, Xiaojing Hu, Zhenhua Yu, Yansheng Li, Jian Jin, and et al. 2025. "Biofertilizers Enhance Soil Fertility and Crop Yields Through Microbial Community Modulation" Agronomy 15, no. 7: 1572. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15071572

APA Style

Zhang, X., Zhang, L., Liu, J., Shen, Z., Liu, Z., Gu, H., Hu, X., Yu, Z., Li, Y., Jin, J., & Wang, G. (2025). Biofertilizers Enhance Soil Fertility and Crop Yields Through Microbial Community Modulation. Agronomy, 15(7), 1572. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15071572

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