ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Terrestrial Microbiology
This article is part of the Research TopicSoil Microbiome and Agroecosystem MultifunctionalityView all 12 articles
Effects of Strip-Tillage on Soil Microbial Community Structure and Function in Black Soil
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jilin Agriculture University, Changchun, China
- 2Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Changchun, China
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The spatial heterogeneity introduced by strip tillage (ST; maize belt (ST-M) and straw belt (ST-S)) leads to the pronounced differentiation in soil properties. However, its effects on soil microbial community structure and function remain unclear. In this study, amplicon sequencing (Accu16STM and AccuITSTM) was used to investigate the effects of different tillage practices on soil microbial communities. The results showed that the ST and ST-S treatments significantly increased the Shannon diversity index of microbial communities compared to rotary tillage (RT). Tillage practices also influenced microbial community structure, with fungal communities showing a more p renounced response than bacterial communities. Compared to the RT treatment, the ST-M, ST-S, and ST treatments significantly increased the relative abundance (RA) of Gemmatimonadetes and reduced the RA of Acidobacteria. Additionally, the ST-S and ST treatments significantly enhanced the absolute abundances (AAs) of Arenimonas and Luteolibacter compared to the RT treatment. Following freeze-thaw events, the ST-M, ST-S, and ST treatments significantly increased the AAs of Latescibacteria, while significantly increasing the AA of Microvirga compared to the RT treatment. Furthermore, Mantel test showed that soil bacterial communities were significantly correlated with electric conductivity (EC) and available potassium, while soil fungal communities were significantly correlated with EC and soil organic carbon. Functional prediction revealed that ST significantly promoted nitrification, denitrification, sulfur oxidation, and ectomycorrhizal. Therefore, strip tillage could improve microbial community diversity and microbial regulation of the N and S cycles in black soil, providing a microbiological perspective for conservation agriculture.
Keywords: Strip tillage, straw belt, Maize belt, Freeze-thawing, function prediction
Received: 23 Oct 2025; Accepted: 28 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yuan, Ma, Liu, Nie, Feng, Wang and Luo. 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:
Shaojie Wang
Shasha Luo
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