Xuqing Li

Heavy metal-containing atmospheric particulate matter (PM) and acid rain (AR) trigger molecular alteration in plants, perturbing metabolites and damaging plant growth. However, the molecular mechanisms of plants under AR along with Cd-containing atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM2.5-Cd) stress remain unknown. In this study, integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics analyses of pak choi (Brassica pekinensis (Lour.) Rupr) exposed to AR (pH3.5) and PM2.5-Cd (500 μg·m⁻³) stress were performed. Metabolomics analyses revealed that AR-Cd stress mainly affected 42 metabolic pathways, including 451 differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs). RNA-seq identified 735 common differentially expressed genes (DEGs: 557 upregulated and 178 downregulated). Further analysis found several important DEGs (transcription factors, metabolic pathways genes, and signal transduction genes), including WRKY11, WRKY53, WRKY41, MYB73, NAC062, NAC046, HSFA4A, ABCC3, CAXs, GSTs, AZFs, PODs, PME41, CYP707A2, and CDPK32 implying that Cd chelate sequestration into the vacuoles, the antioxidant system, cell wall biosynthesis pathway, and calcium signaling play a critical role in AR damage and Cd detoxification. Conjoint revealed phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways with different metabolism patterns, including the key DEM, chlorogenic acids. The results obtained using multiple approaches provide a molecular-scale perspective on plant response to AR-Cd stress.

Due to the development of urbanization and industrialization, a large amount of cultivated land resources has been occupied, while new reclamation land could expand the supply of usable land for food security. Organic fertilizers, such as crop residues, biosolids, sheep manure, mushroom residue, and biogas liquid, have been considered as an effective amendment in immature soil to improve its quality. Recently, two kinds of commercial organic fertilizers, pig manure and mushroom residue organic fertilizer (PMMR-OF), and sheep manure organic fertilizer (SM-OF), have been more regularly applied in agriculture production. However, the information available on effect of the two kinds of fertilizers on plant growth and rhizosphere soil properties in immature field is very limited. In order to evaluate PMMR-OF and SM-OF on immature soil, the soil quality and microbial community structure of corn rhizosphere soil samples under the two kinds of organic fertilizers at different concentrations was investigated. The results revealed a significant difference between commercial organic fertilizers (especially SM-OF) and chemical compound fertilizers (CCF) in soil properties and microbial community structure. Indeed, compared with the control based on16S and ITS amplicon sequencing of soil microflora, SM-OF caused a 10.79–19.52%, 4.33–4.39%,and 14.58–29.29% increase in Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Ascomycota, but a 5.82–20.58%, 0.53–24.06%, 10.87–16.79%, 2.69–10.50%, 44.90–59.24%, 8.88–10.98%, and 2.31–21.98% reduction in Acidobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Bacteroidetes, Verrucomicrobia, Basidiomycota, Mortierellomycota, and Chytridiomycota, respectively. CCF caused a 24.11%, 23.28%, 38.87%, 19.88%, 18.28%, and 13.89% reduction in Acidobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Bacteroidetes, Verrucomicrobia, Basidiomycota, Chytridiomycota, but a 22.77%, 41.28%, 7.88%, and 19.39% increase in Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Ascomycota, and Mortierellomycota, respectively. Furthermore, redundancy discriminant analysis of microbial communities and soil properties of PMMR-OF, SM-OF, CCF, and the control treatments indicated that the main variables of bacterial and fungal communities included organic matter content, available P, and available K. Overall, the results of this study revealed significant changes under different fertilizer conditions (PMMR-OF, SM-OF, CCF, under different concentrations) in microbiota and chemical properties of corn soil. Commercial organic fertilizers, particularly SM-OF, can be used as a good amendment for the new reclamation land.

Land reclamation may expand the supply of usable land for food security. Soil microorganisms have been considered as an amendment in immature soil to improve its quality. However, different microbial fertilizers’ effects on plant growth in immature soil have largely been unexplored. In order to evaluate the effects of different microbial fertilizers on immature soil, the soil quality and microbial community structure of corn rhizosphere soil samples under different microbial fertilizers were investigated. The results revealed a significant difference between microbial fertilizers (especially seaweed microbial fertilizer, SMF) and commercial chemical compound fertilizers in the soil properties and microbial community structure. Indeed, SMF caused a 486.21%, 23.17%, 21.08%, 38.33%, and 482.39% increase in Flavobacteriaceae, Planctomycetaceae, Chitinophagaceae, Acidobacteria_Gp3, and Mortierellaceae but a 23.82%, 18.66%, 42.36%, 29.12%, 81.97%, 42.19%, and 99.33% reduction in Cytophagales, Comamonadaceae, Rhodospirillaceae, Sinobacteaceae, Aspergillaceae, Myrmecridiaceae, and Typhulaceae, respectively; while CCF caused an 85.68% and 183.22% increase in Xanthomonadaceae and Mortierellaceae but a 31.29%, 36.02%, and 65.74% reduction in Cytophagales, Spartobacteria, and Cyphellophoraceae compared with the control based on 16S and ITS amplicon sequencing of soil microflora. Furthermore, redundancy discriminant analysis of the microbial communities and soil properties indicated that the main variables of the bacterial and fungal communities included exchangeable Ca, organic matter content, total N, and available P. Overall, the results of this study revealed significant changes under different fertilizer conditions in the microbiota and chemical properties of corn soil. Microbial fertilizers, particularly SMF and SM, can be used as a good amendment for newly reclaimed land.

It is well known that soil fertility is poor in most newly reclaimed land, which has been developed as an effective way to compensate farmland occupation. In order to ameliorate the soil quality of the newly reclaimed land, this study investigated the effect of commercial organic fertilizer (COF) (0.45, 0.90, 1.35 and 1.80 kg/m²), sheep manure (SM) (0.45, 0.75, 1.05 and 1.35 kg/m²), mushroom residue (MR) (1.50, 2.25, 3.00 and 3.75 kg/m²), and chemical compound fertilizer (CCF) (0.075 kg/m²) on the growth of sweet potato, soil pH, organic matter content (OMC), available phosphate, total nitrogen, available potassium, exchangeable Ca and Mg, as well as bacterial and fungal microbial composition during 2019–2021. The results from this study indicated that the COF, SM, MR, and CCF did not significantly change the soil pH, but significantly increased the OMC, which has been regarded as the most significant soil quality parameter. This suggests that the soil amendments used in this study have great potential to improve the soil quality in newly reclaimed land. However, these soil amendments exhibited a differential effect on sweet potato biomass, nutrient elements and the microbial community of the newly reclaimed soil, which depend on the kind and concentration of organic/chemical fertilizer, the application time, as well as the plant and soil parameters. The change was also observed on the bacterial and fungal soil microbial community, which provides us with a microbial basis to understand why organic fertilizer has a great effect on soil improvement. Overall, our results suggest that soil amended with organic fertilizers has great potential for the production of sweet potato in immature soil from the new reclamation land.

Ralstonia Solanacearum is one of the most infectious soil-borne bacterial plant pathogens, causing tomato bacterial wilt (TBW). Nanotechnology is an emerging area of research, particularly the application of nanoparticles (NPs) as nanopesticides to manage plant disease is gaining attention nowadays. However, the interaction between NPs and rhizosphere bacterial communities remains largely elusive. This study indicated that metal NPs (CuO, ZnO, and FeO) reduced the incidence of bacterial wilt to varying degrees and affected the composition and structure of the rhizosphere bacterial community. The results revealed that the application of metal oxide NPs can improve the morphological and physiological parameters of TBW infected tomato plants. Among all, CuONPs amendments significantly increase the Chao1 and Shannon index. In the early stage (the second week), it significantly reduces the relative abundance of pathogens. However, the relative abundance of beneficial Streptomyces bacteria increased significantly, negatively correlated with the relative abundance of pathogenic bacteria. In addition, the nano-treatment group will enrich some potential beneficial bacteria such as species from Sphingomonadaceae, Rhizobiaceae, etc. In general, our research provides evidence and strategies for preventing and controlling soil-borne disease tomato bacterial wilt with metal oxide NPs.

In recent years, the optimum development of land resources has become an important task for ensuring the security of food production in China. Soil microorganisms have been considered to play an important role in conferring soil fertility and productivity. In order to obtain the plant-growth-promoting bacteria in newly reclaimed land, a total of 988 bacterial strains were isolated from nine soil samples collected from different sites in wastelands in Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province, China), a rural mountainous area. Among them, five strains exhibited substantial potential of phosphate solubilization, nitrogen fixation, siderophore production and indole acetic acid production at both pH 5.0 and pH 7.0, and also promoted eggplant growth in immature soil from newly reclaimed land. Furthermore, bacterial strains ZJ62 and ZJ3-12 were identified as Pantoeadispersa and Pantoea ananatis, respectively, while strains ZJ5, ZJ9 and ZJ174 were identified as Burkholderiaarboris, Burkholderia pyrrocinia and Burkholderia pyrrocinia, respectively, based on colony morphology observation and phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA and the housekeeping genes sequences. Overall, the result of this study showed that the 5 obtained bacterial strains have a great potential in promoting plant growth in immature soil from newly reclaimed land.

Biochar enhances soil fertility by improving the soil physical, chemical and microbiological properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of corn cob-derived biochar on soil enzymatic activity, organic carbon, aggregate stability and soil microbial biomass carbon under drought stress. Biochar was prepared from crushed corn cobs pyrolyzed at 300 °C and 400 °C and applied at a ratio of 1% (w/w) and 3% (w/w) filled in pots. In each pot, three field capacity (FC) levels, i.e., 100, 70 and 40%, were maintained gravimetrically. Results showed that biochar application improved the growth (plant height and root length) and relative water content in maize leaves under drought stress, while it reduced electrolyte leakage compared to a control treatment. Aggregate stability was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher in biochar amended soil. Moreover, microbial biomass carbon and soil water also increased under drought stress at 70% FC and 40% FC, respectively, where 3% w/w (400 °C) biochar was applied. Among enzymes, β-glucosidase and alkaline phosphatase activity were improved with biochar application. The maximum organic carbon (240%, 246% and 249%, 254% more than control) was calculated in soils where 3% biochar pyrolyzed at 400 °C and 300 °C was mixed with soil, respectively. Similarly, the carbon pool index (CPI) and carbon management index (CMI) were also higher in biochar-amended soil as compared to control treatment. Conclusively, biochar amendment could effectively improve soil quality and maize growth under drought stress.

Land reclamation may expand the supply of usable land for food security. Immature soil is not suitable for plant growth and needs to be amended by the addition of organic matter and plant growth-promoting (PGP) microorganisms. However, the effects of different PGP fungi on plant growth in immature soil are largely unexplored. In order to obtain beneficial soil microorganisms with a good PGP ability in new reclamation land, 162 fungal isolates were isolated from different abandoned wastelands, four isolates of which were obtained in this study by the screening of P solubilization, siderophore production, and indole acetic acid (IAA) production. The result of this study revealed that isolate HZ123 had the highest ability to solubilize P and produce siderophores and IAA, followed by HZ23, HZ10, and HZ06. Based on the results of morphological and molecular analyses, isolate HZ06 was identified as Penicillium oxalicum, isolates HZ23 and HZ10 were identified as Aspergillus brunneoviolaceus, and isolate HZ123 was identified as Aspergillustubingensis. Furthermore, the results of in vivo PGP assays demonstrated that isolate HZ123 has a minimal negative effect on the growth of eggplant; however, the other three isolates, particularly isolate HZ06, caused the greatest increase in eggplant biomasses. Overall, these results indicate that isolate HZ06 has great potential as a PGP fungus to develop biofertilizer for application in eggplant production in immature soil from new reclamation land.

The rapid development of cities in the recent 10 years caused a reduction in the cultivated land area, which only accounts for 14% of the total land area in China. Land development and reclamation have been regarded as an effective way to compensate farmland occupation. However, most of the newly reclaimed land has poor soil fertility and suitability; in some cases, the production capacity is only 10–30% of the occupied farmland. In order to ameliorate the soil quality of the newly reclaimed land, this study evaluated the effects of commercial organic fertilizer (0.75, 1.50, and 2.25 kg/m²), mushroom residue (1.50, 2.25, and 3.00 kg/m²), biogas slurry (150, 225, and 300 kg/m²), vegetable cake (0.30 and 0.60 kg/m²), and chemical compound fertilizer (37.50 g/m²) on the pH, moisture content and organic matter content (OMC), available phosphate, total nitrogen, alkaline hydrolysis nitrogen, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, and number of total bacteria and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria, as well as the growth of maize seedlings. The results from this study indicate that the soil quality (OMC is an indicator) was ameliorated by chemical and organic fertilizers, in particular commercial organic fertilizers, which caused a 9.35–16.35% increase in moisture content, a 11.56–18.72% increase in pH, a 1.73–2.15 fold increase in OMC, a 338.44–491.41% increase in available P, a 36.80–48.14% increase in total N, a 95.32–128.34% increase in alkaline hydrolysis N, a 92.57–178.38% increase in total bacterial numbers, and a 7.57–20.87 fold increase in microbial biomass carbon compared with the control. The pot experiment further indicated that soil amended with commercial organic fertilizers caused a 20.35–30.55% increase in the height and a 12.50–16.67% increase in the total dry weight of maize seedlings. In addition, representative strains with the ability to dissolve phosphorus and fix nitrogen were successfully isolated using the culture method, and were then identified based on colony morphological observation and 16S rDNA sequence analysis, which help us to not only understand why organic fertilizer has great effect on soil improvement, but also provides beneficial microbial resources for further study.