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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (10): 53-63.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2021414

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Effects on soil nutrients and bacterial communities of different cover crops in an organic kiwifruit orchard in the Guanzhong region of China

Xu-mei JIN(), Ying-ying WANG, Chong-yi LIU, Xin-yi CHEN, Ming-xiu LONG(), Shu-bin HE()   

  1. College of Grassland Agriculture,Northwest A&F University,Yangling 712100,China
  • Received:2021-11-10 Revised:2022-02-09 Online:2022-10-20 Published:2022-09-14
  • Contact: Ming-xiu LONG,Shu-bin HE

Abstract:

This study investigated the effects of different cover crop combinations on soil nutrients and bacterial communities in organic kiwifruit orchards in the Guanzhong area. Four cover crop combinations were tested: 1) Lolium perenne+Vicia villosa2) L. perenne+Melilotus officinalis; 3) L. perenne+Trifolium repensand 4) Vulpia myuros. Natural grass was used as the control. The growth characteristics of grass species and the effects of cover crops on soil nutrients in the orchard topsoil (0-20 cm) were observed. The bacterial community structure was analyzed by high-throughput sequencing. It was found that V. myuros had the highest overwintering survival rate and the lowest number of weed plants in the plot. The soil organic matter of artificial grass was 6.46%-38.63% higher than that of natural grass. The combination L. perenne+V. villosa gave an obvious difference, and this treatment resulted in the most significant improvement in soil urease, sucrase and alkaline phosphatase activities, which were 3.37, 44.17 and 3.46 mg·g-1·d-1, respectively. Meanwhile, compared with natural grass, L. perenne+V. villosaL. perenne+M. officinalis and L. perenne+T. repens increased the richness and diversity of soil bacterial communities. L. perenne+V. villosa had the most distinct bacterial community structure. In summary, planting L. perenne+V. villosa in organic kiwifruit orchards in Guanzhong area can be recommended to help improve soil organic matter and nutrient content to a certain extent, and to improve the soil micro-ecological environment.

Key words: orchard grasses cultivation, soil nutrients, soil bacterial diversity, 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing