Compost amendment alters soil fungal community structure of a replanted apple orchard

This study investigated the impact of compost amendment on fungal structure of the replanted apple orchard in comparison with the original orchard without compost improvement. The V4 region of the fungal 18S rRNA gene was sequenced using high-throughput 454 pyrosequencing, and the data were analyzed using the Mothur pipeline. The results showed that the compost amendment modified the fungal community structure at all soil depths (0-20 and 20-40 cm) and sites (in-row and inter-row) considered, such as the relative abundances of Vampyrellidae (16.2%), Trichocomaceae (14.2%) and Rhizaspididae (2.5%) were increased while that of Glissomonadida (15.4%), Eugregarinorida (4.0%) and Thecofilosea (3.4%) were decreased. Overall, our findings show that compost amendment altered the fungal community compositions in replanted orchard soil.

Automated summary

Compost amendment was found to alter the fungal community structure and composition in the soil of replanted orchards, increasing the relative abundance of certain fungi while decreasing that of others. This study highlights the impact of compost improvement on fungal diversity in agricultural ecosystems.