《Effect of Different Vegetation Types on the Rhizosphere Soil Microbial Community Structure in the Loess Plateau of China》.pdfVIP

Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2013, 12(11): 2103-2113 November 2013 RESEARCH ARTICLE Effect of Different Vegetation Types on the Rhizosphere Soil Microbial Community Structure in the Loess Plateau of China 1 1, 2 1 1 ZHANG Chao , LIU Guo-bin , XUE Sha and XIAO Lie 1 State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, P.R.China 2 Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, P.R.China Abstract The Loess Plateau in China is one of the most eroded areas in the world. Accordingly, vegetation restoration has been implemented in this area over the past two decades to remedy the soil degradation problem. Understanding the microbial community structure is essential for the sustainability of ecosystems and for the reclamation of degraded arable land. This study aimed to determine the effect of different vegetation types on microbial processes and community structure in rhizosphere soils in the Loess Plateau. The six vegetation types were as follows: two natural grassland (Artemisia capillaries and Heteropappus altaicus), two artificial grassland (Astragalus adsurgens and Panicum virgatum), and two artificial shrubland (Caragana korshinskii and Hippophae rhamnoides) species. The microbial community structure and functional diversity were examined by analyzing the phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and community-level physiological profiles. The results showed that rhizosphere soil sampled from the H. altaicus and A. capillaries plots had the highest values of