Abstract:
Objective Effects of quicklime application on the chemical properties and microbial community of highly acidic pomelo orchard soil were analyzed to improve land management.
Method In a pot experiment, quicklime were added to the highly acidic pomelo orchard soil in a dosage of 0 g·kg−1 (T1 as control), 1.2 g·kg−1 (T2), or 2.4 g·kg−1 (T3). After 90 d, chemical analysis and high-throughput sequencing were conducted to determine the acidity and carbon and nitrogen contents as well as the microbial diversity and structure in the soil. The collected data were used to statistically analyze correlation among them.
Result The quicklime applications raised the pomelo orchard soil pH by 0.91–1.70, decreased the content of exchangeable aluminum by 60.00%–99.17% and that of ammonium nitrogen by 27.74%–33.84%, while increased the contents of total carbon by 10.27%–39.29%, nitrogen by 12.84%–34.86%, and nitrate nitrogen by 3.45%–42.70% over control. With increasing quicklime dosage, the soil bacteria Chao1, ACE, and Shannon indices significantly increased in the ranges of 47.68%–74.15%, 46.40%–73.70%, and 9.53%–14.95%, respectively. The dominant bacteria phyla in the soils under all 3 treatments were Actinobacteriota and Proteobacteria with a relative abundance greater than 20%. Acidothermus was the dominant genus with higher relative abundance at lower pHs. Overall, the relative abundance of Chloroflexi, Bacteroidota, Firmicutes, Gemmatimonas, and Micromonospora increased with the amount of quicklime applied. The redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that soil chemistry explained 69.32% of the changes in the microbial community and that pH was the most important affecting factor.
Conclusion Addition of quicklime to a highly acidic pomelo orchard soil raised the pH and the contents of carbon, nitrogen, and nitrate nitrogen, reduced the exchangeable aluminum, and improved the diversity and richness of microbial community in the soil. It is recommended that the amount of quicklime in the highly acidic soil of the pomelo orchard is 2.4 g·kg−1.