Peanut-based intercropping systems altered soil bacterial communities, potential functions, and crop yield.

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Soil Microbiology
• Ecology

Background:

• Intercropping is a sustainable agricultural practice with global adoption.
• The impact of intercropping on soil bacterial community structure and function remains incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of sole cropping and intercropping systems on soil bacterial communities.
• To determine how intercropping influences soil properties and crop yield.

Main Methods:

• Illumina MiSeq sequencing was used to analyze soil bacterial communities.
• Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), analysis of similarities (ANOSIM), and redundancy analysis (RDA) were employed.
• Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) was used to assess relationships between soil properties, bacterial communities, and yield.

Main Results:

• Intercropping with peanuts increased soil available nitrogen (AN) and total nitrogen (TN).
• Bacterial community structures differed significantly among cropping systems, primarily shaped by soil organic carbon (SOC).
• Specific intercropping combinations (sorghum/peanut and millet/peanut) enhanced the abundance of certain bacterial phyla.

Conclusions:

• Different intercropping systems create distinct soil bacterial community structures.
• Soil bacterial communities directly and indirectly influence crop yield by altering soil properties.
• Findings provide a basis for understanding microbial communities in peanut-based intercropping systems to guide agricultural practices.