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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » WHGQ » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #373933
Research Project: Biology, Ecology, and Genomics of Pathogenic and Beneficial Microorganisms of Wheat, Barley, and Biofuel Brassicas

Location: Wheat Health, Genetics, and Quality Research

Title: Impacts of lime application on soil bacterial microbiome in dryland wheat soil in the Pacific Northwest

Author
item YIN, CHUNTAO - Washington State University
item Schlatter, Daniel
item KROESE, DUNCAN - Oregon State University
item Paulitz, Timothy
item HAGERTY, CHRISTINA - Oregon State University

Submitted to: Applied Soil Ecology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/6/2021
Publication Date: 6/21/2021
Citation: Yin, C., Schlatter, D.C., Kroese, D., Paulitz, T.C., Hagerty, C. 2021. Impacts of lime application impacts on the soil bacterial microbiome in dryland wheatacid soils in the Pacific Northwest. Applied Soil Ecology. 21(1680:104113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2021.104113.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2021.104113

Interpretive Summary: Soil acidification is becoming an increasing problem in dryland wheat production areas in the Pacific Northwest. This is caused by 60 years of using ammonium fertilizers for providing nitrogen for the crop. Bacteria in the soil convert ammonium to nitrate, causing a decrease in soil pH. This study looked at applying lime at 3 levels to ameliorate the low pH. It was done at two location in NE Oregon. Soil was sampled at 3 different depths. We used DNA techniques to characterize the bacterial communities, to see if they were influenced by the liming treatments. We also looked at 4 bacterial groups involved in nitrification. Location and soil depth were major determinants of the communities. We found pH and communities were affected only in the upper soil layers. Ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and Nitrobacter were most abundant in the topsoil, while ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA) and Nitrospira were more abundant in deeper soil. Only Nitrospira was significantly influenced by soil pH. This work shows that the bacterial community are very resilient to short term changes in soil pH

Technical Abstract: Soil acidification is a global issue that significantly reduces crop productivity. Over 70 percent of surveyed wheat fields in the Inland Pacific Northwest (IPNW), USA are below pH 5.5, the threshold for optimal wheat production. Lime application is widely used to ameliorate soil acidification. In this study, we established winter wheat plots in two precipitation zones, Pendleton and Moro in Oregon, with pH ranging above and below 5.5, and conducted bacterial microbiome analysis after four different rates of lime application (0, 673, 1345 and 2690 kg/ha). Soil pH increased with increasing rates of lime amendments in the surface soil (0-7.5 cm) but did not significantly change in deeper soil (7.5-15 and 15-22.5 cm). High-throughput sequencing results revealed that location and soil depth had a strong effect on soil bacterial communities, whereas impact of liming was much smaller, and especially prominent in the surface soil. The impacts of liming on soil bacterial diversity and taxa were inconsistent and location- and soil depth-dependent. Furthermore, four nitrifiers were quantitated from all samples by qPCR assay. Ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and Nitrobacter were most abundant in the topsoil, while ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA) and Nitrospira were more abundant in deeper soil. Only Nitrospira was significantly influenced by soil pH. Overall, these results suggest that location, soil depth, lime amendments, and their interactions have significant impacts on the soil bacterial community that may influence plant health and crop yields.