Cover crop mixtures do not assemble markedly distinct soil microbiotas as compared to monocultures in a multilocation field experiment

TY - JOUR

T1 - Cover crop mixtures do not assemble markedly distinct soil microbiotas as compared to monocultures in a multilocation field experiment

AU - Maciá-Vicente, Jose G.

AU - Cazzaniga, Sara

AU - Duhamel, Marie

AU - van den Beld, Luc

AU - Lombaers, Carin

AU - Visser, Johnny

AU - Elzes, Geert

AU - Deckers, Jos

AU - Jongenelen, Peter Jan

AU - Molendijk, Leendert

AU - Mommer, Liesje

AU - Helder, Johannes

AU - Postma, Joeke

N1 - Data archiving: ENA

PY - 2024/10

Y1 - 2024/10

N2 - Cover crops are used in cropping systems to enhance ecosystem services, such as soil resilience to erosion or microbial activity. Different cover crops are selected to steer specific processes, but whether cover crop mixtures have an added value over monocultures remains debated. Here, we investigated if cover crop mixtures accumulate soil microbiotas distinct from those of monocultures, potentially leading to more varied microbially-driven soil functions. We performed a field experiment at three locations in the Netherlands, each including nine cover crop monocultures, five- and eight-species mixtures, and a fallow control. After three months, we measured cover crop biomass and profiled soil bacterial, fungal, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities via amplicon sequencing. The different crop monocultures produced similar biomass across all three locations, and mixtures had average productivity compared to monocultures. The diversity and community structure of soil microbial communities was primarily determined by the geographical location, and then by cover crop treatment at each location. Although the cover crop species affected the soil microbiome differently, cover crop mixtures did neither increase microbial diversity nor the overall community differentiation compared to monocultures. Our results suggest that mixing cover crop species does not significantly influence microbially-driven soil functions, at least in short-term crop rotations.

AB - Cover crops are used in cropping systems to enhance ecosystem services, such as soil resilience to erosion or microbial activity. Different cover crops are selected to steer specific processes, but whether cover crop mixtures have an added value over monocultures remains debated. Here, we investigated if cover crop mixtures accumulate soil microbiotas distinct from those of monocultures, potentially leading to more varied microbially-driven soil functions. We performed a field experiment at three locations in the Netherlands, each including nine cover crop monocultures, five- and eight-species mixtures, and a fallow control. After three months, we measured cover crop biomass and profiled soil bacterial, fungal, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities via amplicon sequencing. The different crop monocultures produced similar biomass across all three locations, and mixtures had average productivity compared to monocultures. The diversity and community structure of soil microbial communities was primarily determined by the geographical location, and then by cover crop treatment at each location. Although the cover crop species affected the soil microbiome differently, cover crop mixtures did neither increase microbial diversity nor the overall community differentiation compared to monocultures. Our results suggest that mixing cover crop species does not significantly influence microbially-driven soil functions, at least in short-term crop rotations.

KW - Agriculture

KW - Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

KW - Biodiversity

KW - Cover crops

KW - Microbiome

KW - Pathogens

KW - Productivity

KW - Soil

U2 - 10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105573

DO - 10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105573

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85200578607

SN - 0929-1393

VL - 202

JO - Applied Soil Ecology

JF - Applied Soil Ecology

M1 - 105573

ER -