Silica fertilization and nano-MnO₂ amendment on bacterial community composition in high arsenic paddy soils

Silica fertilization and nano-MnO2 amendment are reported as useful approaches in lowering the accumulation of arsenic in rice grains, but the effects of silica fertilization or nano-MnO2 amendment on microbial community in the paddy soils containing high concentration of arsenic are still unknown. In order to elucidate this question, the structures and composition of microbial community in the paddy soils, in response to silica fertilization and nano-MnO2 amendment, were investigated using pyrosequencing technique. The results indicated that Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Acidobacteria were the main dominating phyla in these paddy soils. A decrease in the relative abundance of Chloroflexi and Cyanobacteria, but an increase in the relative abundance of Acidobacteria was observed after silica fertilization and nano-MnO2 amendment. The changes of Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Cyanobacteria were strongly correlated with pH and the concentration of bioavailable arsenic in the paddy soils. The α-diversity of bacteria in the paddy soils increased in response to silica fertilization at low amendment level, but decreased under silica or nano-MnO2 amendment at high amendment level. Results of β-diversity analysis indicated that the microbial communities in the control treatment shared more similarity with that of those received low level of nano-MnO2 amendment, and the two silica fertilization treatments also shared more similarity with each other.