ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
This article is part of the Research TopicDeciphering the Ecological and Molecular Dynamics of Free-living Nitrogen FixersView all articles
Soil nifH-harboring community assemblage varies 1 across pecan cultivars
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jiujiang University, Jiujiang, China
- 2Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
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This study focused on three pecan (Carya illinoinensis) cultivars ('Pawnee', 'Mahan', and 10 'Jinhua'), systematically assessing variations in soil nitrogenase activity, composition and 11 functional traits of nifH-harboring microbial communities across these cultivars. Both cultivar 12 type and soil compartment had significant effects on nitrogenase activity (p < 0.01). Among the 13 three cultivars, 'Mahan' exhibited the highest soil nitrogenase activity in both its rhizosphere 14 and bulk soils relative to the other two cultivars. Notably, rhizosphere soils across all cultivars 15 displayed significantly stronger soil nitrogenase activity than their bulk soil counterparts. The 16 bulk soil of 'Mahan' harbored significantly higher microbial α-diversity (Sobs, Shannon, and 17 Chao indices) than other cultivars (p < 0.05). β-diversity analysis revealed marked community 18 divergence among cultivars, with the most pronounced differences observed in bulk soils. 19 Specifically, the bulk soil of 'Jinhua' harbored a distinct microbial signature, marked by 20 significant enrichment of Cyanobacteria and depletion of Alphaproteobacteria. Linear 21 discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) further identified Rhizobiales and Burkholderiales as 22 distinct biomarkers for the rhizosphere and bulk soils of 'Jinhua', respectively (LDA score > 23 4.0, p < 0.05). Microbial co-occurrence network analysis showed that the bulk soil of 'Jinhua' 24 harbored the most complex microbial interaction network, characterized by the highest number 25 of edges, and average connectivity. In co-occurrence networks, Azohydromonas, 26 Bradyrhizobium, Azoarcus, Rhodomicrobium were found as the keystone taxa in maintaining 27 network stability. This research elucidates the regulatory roles of pecan cultivars in shaping soil 28 nitrogen fixation functions and microbial community assembly, providing valuable practical 29 implications for precision microbiome management in pecan production.
Keywords: microbial network, nifH-harboring community, Nitrogenase activity, Pecan cultivars, Rhizosphere microbiome
Received: 30 Sep 2025; Accepted: 08 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Wang, Tang, Bao, Tan and Peng. 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: Fangren Peng
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