Comparative Effects of Exogenous Organic Amendments on Rhizosphere Microbial Communities and Soil Properties in...

Continuous cropping obstacles in watermelon are closely linked to rhizosphere microbial imbalance, posing a major threat to the sustainability of the industry in Xinjiang. Exogenous additives are widely used to regulate soil health, yet comprehensive comparisons of their mechanisms and effects remain limited. In this study, a field experiment was conducted under continuous watermelon cropping conditions in Xinjiang to evaluate the impact of eight treatments, including chemical fertilizer (NPK) alone and its combination with organic fertilizer (NPKM), glucose (NPKG), oxalic acid (NPKOA), amino acids (NPKGA), citric acid (NPKCA), and acetic acid (NPKAA), with unfertilized soil as the control (CK). Treatment effects were assessed through soil physicochemical analysis, fruit quality evaluation, and high-throughput sequencing (16S rRNA and ITS). Among all treatments, NPKM showed the greatest improvement in soil fertility, increasing soil organic matter by 13.91%, total nitrogen by 23.08%, and single fruit weight by 35.75% compared to CK. NPKGA also enhanced fruit weight (+33.06% vs. CK) and increased catalase activity, while oxalic acid exhibited the strongest activation of alkaline phosphatase. Microbiome analysis revealed that NPKM and NPKAA significantly reshaped both bacterial and fungal community structures. NPKM enriched beneficial taxa such as unclassified Chitinophagaceae and Lophotrichus, whereas NPKCA enriched the biocontrol bacterium Pseudomonas chlororaphis. Soil organic matter and total nitrogen were identified as key environmental drivers, showing significant positive correlations with core bacterial genera (Dokdonella) and negative correlations with the pathogenic fungus Alternaria. Collectively, this study elucidates the distinct mechanisms of various additives by linking treatment-specific microbial shifts to key soil factors and crop performance, providing a theoretical and technical framework for mitigating watermelon continuous cropping obstacles through rhizosphere environmental regulation.