Agricultural soils face significant microbial disruption due to chemical inputs and continuous cropping. Cover crops offer a potential strategy to restore soil microbial health, yet the influence of cover crop species richness on root and rhizosphere microbiomes remains poorly understood. In this study, we evaluated the effects of six cover crop species, comparing monocultures and mixtures, to test the hypothesis that higher species richness enhances microbial diversity and network complexity via improved root coverage, carbon exudation, and soil properties. We found that microbial communities in species-rich mixtures exhibited greater community stability, abundance of plant beneficial bacteria, and network complexity than those under monocultures. Root microbiomes were primarily shaped by plant biomass and root traits, whereas, rhizosphere communities were influenced by species richness and soil organic carbon (SOC). Network analyses revealed that diverse cover crops enhanced microbial connectivity and function through synergistic plant-soil interactions. These findings highlight the potential of diverse cover cropping systems to foster resilient microbial networks and improve soil health.
A single gram of fertile agricultural soil harbours on the order of a billion to ten billion microbial cells representing several thousand distinct taxa, a density and diversity that positions the soil microbiome as a functional organ of the plant-soil system rather than a passive backdrop to crop growth. This paper re...
Shital Deshmukh· Natural Resources for Human...· 0 citations
The focus is on microbiome approaches that integrate information on community composition with assessments of functional potential and measured microbial activity and ecosystem processes, combining state-of-the-art molecular monitoring, ecological indicators, and predictive modeling to support evidence-based management...
D. Miljaković, Jelena Marinković, M. Vasiljević et al.· Agriculture· 0 citations
It is demonstrated that different carbon farming practices shape distinct leaf microbiomes cover crop systems tending to favor potential fungal pathogens, whereas ley mixture and adaptive grazing strategies promote microbial taxa associated with healthier phyllosphere communities.
Jean-Baptiste Floc'h, J. Näsäkkälä, H. Susi et al.· bioRxiv· 0 citations
Background Soil microbiomes play critical roles in plant health and resilience, yet it is still poorly understood how disruptions in local microbial communities, such as during soil management, impact these ecological functions. In this study, we investigated how compost addition, a widely used soil management practice...
Mary M. Dixon, Ethan J. McAnally, Brian Chang et al.· bioRxiv· 0 citations
The increasing demand for resilient and sustainable food production necessitates a comprehensive understanding of rhizosphere microbial communities and their functional roles in enhancing plant health, nutrient acquisition, stress resilience, and crop productivity, thereby supporting food security and sustainable agric...
Oluwaseun Emmanuel Shittu, Jing Ge, O. Babalola· International Journal of Gen...· 0 citations
Collectively, SynComs coordinately enhanced onion quality via optimizing soil conditions and reshaping microbial assemblages, providing theoretical support for the microbial restoration of arid agricultural soils.
Hai-Fei An, Zhe-Ya Chen, Cheng-Dong Zhou et al.· Journal of Agricultural and...· 0 citations
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