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Shifting abundances of communities associated with nitrogen cycling in soils promoted by sugarcane harvest systems
Author(s) -
Rigotto A.,
Cotta S.R.,
Dias A.C.F.,
Carvalho J.L.N.,
Andreote F.D.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
letters in applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.698
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1472-765X
pISSN - 0266-8254
DOI - 10.1111/lam.13314
Subject(s) - denitrifying bacteria , nitrogen cycle , environmental science , cycling , soil water , agronomy , soil compaction , abundance (ecology) , saccharum , nitrogen , denitrification , biology , ecology , soil science , geography , chemistry , forestry , organic chemistry
Sugarcane cultivation supports Brazil as one of the largest world sugar and ethanol producer. In order to understand the impact of changing sugarcane harvest from manual to mechanized harvest, we studied the effect of machinery traffic on soil and consequently soil compaction upon soil microbial communities involved in nitrogen cycling. The impact of sugarcane harvest was dependent on soil depth and texture. At deeper soil layers, mechanized harvesting increases the abundance of nitrogen fixers and denitrifying communities (specifically nos Z clade I and II) while manual harvesting increases the abundance of ammonia oxidizers (specifically AOA) and increases denitrifying communities ( nos Z clade I and II) on top and at intermediate depth. The effect of change on the harvest system is more evident on sandy soil than on clay soil, where soil indicators of compaction (bulk density and penetration resistance) were negatively correlated with soil microorganisms associated with the nitrogen cycle. Our results point to connections between soil compaction and N transformations in sugarcane fields, besides naming biological variables to be used as proxies for alterations in soil structure.