A Comprehensive Assessment Using Physicochemical and Microbial Indicators Reveals Enhanced Soil Health Under...

Soil degradation poses a serious threat to the sustainability of global agricultural development, endangering the foundation and environment of human survival. Therefore, elucidating the effects of different agricultural production patterns on the quality and health of paddy soils is of great significance. To investigate the impact of the integrated rice-red swamp crayfish farming on paddy soil health, this paper systematically analyzed the differences in 19 soil physicochemical indicators and bacterial and eukaryotic microbial communities between the traditional rice monoculture (TRM) and integrated rice-red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) farming (IRPF), and it features a comprehensive quantitative assessment of paddy soil health status through Principal Component Analysis based on a minimum dataset. The experimental results showed that IRPF significantly increased the soil aggregate mean weight diameter, total phosphorus, available potassium, cation exchange capacity, pH, available zinc, and available silicon contents. Meanwhile, IRPF exerted marked effects on the beta diversity and composition of both bacterial and eukaryotic microbial communities, markedly enhancing the relative abundances of Bacillariophyta and Chlorophyta in the paddy soil. The integrated analysis of 19 soil physicochemical indicators along with bacterial and eukaryotic microbial community parameters revealed that the Soil Health Index under IRPF was obviously higher than that under the rice monoculture. In conclusion, the integrated rice-red swamp crayfish farming system markedly impacted the soil fertility, effectively improved soil aggregate structure and enhanced the overall paddy soil health status, representing a promising and sustainable agricultural production pattern within a single production cycle.