Journal
AGRICULTURE-BASEL
Volume 11, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/agriculture11040341
Keywords
monoculture; rhizosphere microbial community; soil fertility; salinization; cucumber
Categories
Funding
- National Key Research and Development Program of China [2016YFD0201000]
- China Agricultural Research System [CARS-25-D05]
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The research found that proper management of soil organic matter and biological properties, along with the use of balanced fertilizers such as potassium fertilizers, can effectively maintain the sustainability of greenhouse vegetable production. At the same time, appropriate management strategies should be considered to reduce the potential risk of soil salinization.
Cucumber monoculture could cause soil salinization and acidification, soilborne diseases, and eventually yield loss. However, after a 25-year monoculture in Wafangdian county, Liaoning province, China, cucumber yields have remained satisfactory. In the present study, we investigated how the soil abiotic and biotic properties, in addition to soil rhizosphere microbial community structure in the greenhouses, could still sustain plant growth after such long-term monoculture production. Soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and available nitrogen were accumulated significantly after monoculture. Such increasing soil fertility was accompanied by increased soil microbial abundance, which reshaped soil microbial community structure. Both bacterial and fungal diversity, including observed and estimated richness, Heip evenness, and Shannon diversity, decreased significantly, while the monoculture period had a greater influence on fungal diversity than on bacterial diversity. Although the high accumulation of soil nutrients increased soil salinity and acidity, the abundance of potential plant pathogenic fungi did not show an obvious increase. These results indicated that maintaining soil abiotic and biotic properties using organic fertilizers and balanced chemical fertilizers, especially improving potassium fertilizer application, could be useful measurements for the sustainable development of greenhouse vegetable production. In addition, appropriate management strategies should be considered to reduce the potential risk of soil salinization.
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