Microbial Diversity and Community Structure in Soil under Tea Bushes-Ganoderma lucidum Intercropping

  Objective  Effects of intercropping Ganoderma lucidum among tea bushes on the microbial diversity and community structure in the soil were investigated.

  Method  The microbial communities in the monoculture (CK) and tea bush-G. lucidum intercropping soils were compared using the high-throughput sequencing technology.

  Result  Compared with CK, the intercropping significantly increased the organic matters, total nitrogen, alkali-hydrolyzed nitrogen, and available phosphorus and significantly reduced the available potassium and pH with no significant effect on the total phosphorus and total potassium in the soil. No significant differences were observed on the richness and diversity indices between them. Furthermore, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria in the intercropping soil significantly increased by 21.18% over CK, while that of Acidobacteria declined by 15.09% and that of Gemmatimonadetes by 53.52%, as none found on those of other bacterial phyla. On genus level, the intercropping significantly increased the relative abundance of beneficial microorganisms, such as, Burkholderia, Sphingomonas and Dyella, in the soil. A correlation analysis showed that the pH, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and available potassium in soil exerted a greater effect on the dominant than the minor bacterial communities.

  Conclusion  By intercropping G. lucidum among tea bushes, the structure of microbial community in the soil was altered with an increased abundance of beneficial microbial species without significant changes on diversity.