ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Terrestrial Microbiology
Pea–cucumber crop rotation suppresses Fusarium pathogens by reshaping soil microbial communities and enhancing nutrient availability
Provisionally accepted
- Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
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The pea–cucumber rotation combined with straw return as green manure is an environmentally friendly management strategy to suppress cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) Fusarium wilt (FW) disease and alleviate continuous cropping obstacles. In this study, significant variations in soil microbial composition and nutrient levels were observed between long-term cucumber monocropping and pea–cucumber rotation patterns. The bacterial communities exhibited marked diversity, whereas the α-diversity of fungal communities was significantly reduced. Based on the relative abundance of differential fungi and bacteria at the genus level, the genus Bacillus showed the highest abundance, with a two-fold increase, whereas Fusarium species exhibited a 4.9-fold reduction following the pea–cucumber rotation. Additionally, the contents of available nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus in the soil increased by more than 1.3-fold after the rotation. Correlation analysis revealed that the genus Bacillus and available potassium were significantly and negatively correlated with Fusarium pathogens. Notably, the isolated B. pumilus and B. safensis strains significantly suppressed the growth of cucumber FW pathogens. These findings provide valuable insights for optimizing the combination of soil Bacillus populations and nutrient availability to maintain soil ecosystem health and improve cucumber growth and yield.
Keywords: Cucumber fusarium wilt, pea–cucumber crop rotation model, Microbial Diversity, Soil nutrients, Cucumber production
Received: 03 Sep 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xu, Yao, Pan, Zhang, Li and Chen. 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: Xuehao Chen, xhchen@yzu.edu.cn
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