AUTHOR=Gu Yabing , Liu Yongjun , Li Jiaying , Cao Mingfeng , Wang Zhenhua , Li Juan , Meng Delong , Cao Peijian , Duan Shuhui , Zhang Mingfa , Tan Ge , Xiong Jing , Yin Huaqun , Zhou Zhicheng 

TITLE=Mechanism of Intermittent Deep Tillage and Different Depths Improving Crop Growth From the Perspective of Rhizosphere Soil Nutrients, Root System Architectures, Bacterial Communities, and Functional Profiles

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.759374

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.759374

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=Long-term conventional shallow tillage reduced soil quality and limited the agriculture development. Intermittent deep tillage could effectively promote agricultural production, through optimizing soil structure, underground ecology system, and soil fertility. However, the microecological mechanism of intermittent deep tillage promoting agriculture production has never been reported, and the effect of tillage depth on crop growth has not been detailly explored. In this study, three levels intermittent deep tillage (30cm, 40cm, and 50cm) treatments were conducted in an experimental field site with over 10 years conventional shallow tillage (20cm). Our results indicated that intermittent deep tillage practices helped to improve plant physiological growth status, chlorophyll a, and resistance to diseases, and the crop yield and value of output were increased with the deeper tillage practices. Crop yield (18.59%) and value of output (37.03%) were highest in IDT-50. There were three mechanisms that how intermittent deep tillage practices improved crop growth: (1) intermittent deep tillage practices increased soil nutrients and root system architecture traits, which improved the soil fertility and nutrients uptake of crop through root system; (2) changed rhizosphere environments, especial for root length, root tips, pH and available potassium, contributed to dissimilarity of bacterial communities, and enriched plant growth promoting species; (3) functions associated with stress tolerance including signal transduction and biosynthesis of other secondary metabolites were increased significantly in intermittent deep tillage treatments. Moreover, IDT-30 only increased soil characters and root system architecture traits compared to CK, but deeper tillage could also change rhizosphere bacterial communities and functional profiles. Plant height and stem girth in IDT-40 and IDT-50 were higher compared to IDT-30, and infections rates of black shank and black root rot in IDT-50 were even lower in IDT-40. The study provided a comprehensive explanation into the effects of intermittent deep tillage in plant production, and suggested an optimal depth.