ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Terrestrial Microbiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1671484
This article is part of the Research TopicMicrobial Solutions for Restoring Depleted SoilsView all 12 articles
Synergistic Remediation of Continuous Cropping Obstacles in Facility Agriculture: Insights from the Stropharia rugosoannulata-Ornamental Sunflower Rotation System (SR-OS2)
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hangzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
- 2Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education of China for Food and Medicine, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China
- 3Hangzhou Rural Revitalization Service Center, Hangzhou, China
- 4Lin′an Agriculture and Forestry Technology Extension Center, Hangzhou, China
- 5Tonglu Country Agricultural Technology Promotion Center, Hangzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Continuous cropping in facility agriculture induces soil degradation through acidification, nutrient imbalance, and pathogen accumulation. To address this issue, the innovative Stropharia rugosoannulata-Ornamental Sunflower Rotation System (SR-OS2) was developed, which incorporates the utilization of spent mushroom substrate. SR-OS2 significantly increased soil pH (+0.57 units) and decreased electrical conductivity (–37.56%), while enhancing available phosphorus (+84.2% vs. control); secondary/trace elements (Ca, Zn) correlated positively with organic carbon. Residue amendment activated N/P-cycling enzymes but suppressed C-cycling enzymes, with an elevated enzymatic vector angle (27.2°→30.9°, <45°), indicating alleviated N limitation. Microbial communities shifted toward bacterial dominance, evidenced by increased bacterial Chao1 diversity (+37.4%) and decreased fungal diversity (–39.1%). Co-occurrence networks revealed strengthened bacterial connectivity (+42%) and reduced fungal modularity. Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM; GoF=0.748) identified dual remediation pathways: a dominant biological pathway (Rotation → Soil properties → Microbial community → Enzyme activity; β=0.92) and a physicochemical pathway (Secondary/trace elements → Metalloenzyme activation → Enzyme balance; β=–0.501). The SR-OS2 system synergistically improved soil properties, restructured microbial networks, and restored microecological functions via these mechanisms. This integrated approach provides a sustainable paradigm for agricultural waste valorization and ecological management of continuous cropping obstacles.
Keywords: Continuous cropping obstacles, Spent mushroom substrate, Microbial co-occurrence networks, enzyme stoichiometry, Stropharia rugosoannulata, Soil microecological restoration
Received: 24 Jul 2025; Accepted: 23 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lu, Chen, Yan, Ye, Ying, Zhou, Yao and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zufa Zhou, zhouzufa2025@163.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.