Journal article
Increasing the size of the microbial biomass altered bacterial community structure which enhances plant phosphorus uptake
PLoS ONE, Vol.11(11), Art. e0166062
2016
Abstract
Agricultural production can be limited by low phosphorus (P) availability, with soil P being constrained by sorption and precipitation reactions making it less available for plant uptake. There are strong links between carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) availability and P cycling within soil P pools, with microorganisms being an integral component of soil P cycling mediating the availability of P to plants. Here we tested a conceptual model that proposes (i) the addition of readily-available organic substrates would increase the size of the microbial biomass thus exhausting the pool of easily-available P and (ii) this would cause the microbial biomass to access P from more recalcitrant pools. In this model it is hypothesised that the size of the microbial population is regulating access to less available P rather than the diversity of organisms contained within this biomass. To test this hypothesis we added mixtures of simple organic compounds that reflect typical root exudates at different C:N ratios to a soil microcosm experiment and assessed changes in soil P pools, microbial biomass and bacterial diversity measures. We report that low C:N ratio (C:N = 12.5:1) artificial root exudates increased the size of the microbial biomass while high C:N ratio (C:N = 50:1) artificial root exudates did not result in a similar increase in microbial biomass. Interestingly, addition of the root exudates did not alter bacterial diversity (measured via univariate diversity indices) but did alter bacterial community structure. Where C, N and P supply was sufficient to support plant growth the increase observed in microbial biomass occurred with a concurrent increase in plant yield.
Details
- Title
- Increasing the size of the microbial biomass altered bacterial community structure which enhances plant phosphorus uptake
- Authors/Creators
- L. Brusetti (Author/Creator)P. Shen (Author/Creator) - School of Earth and EnvironmentD.V. Murphy (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaS.J. George (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaH. Lapis-Gaza (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaM. Xu (Author/Creator) - Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional PlanningD.B. Gleeson (Author/Creator) - The University of Western Australia
- Publication Details
- PLoS ONE, Vol.11(11), Art. e0166062
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science
- Identifiers
- 991005544450807891
- Copyright
- © 2016 Shen et al.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Murdoch University
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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Source: InCites
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.45 Soil Science
- 3.45.473 Soil Phosphorus Dynamics
- Web Of Science research areas
- Soil Science
- ESI research areas
- Agricultural Sciences