Pasture soil microbiome after monospecies and multispecies livestock grazing

Soil health has been highlighted as a key dimension of regenerative agriculture, given its critical importance for food production, carbon sequestration, water filtration, and nutrient cycling. Microorganisms are critical components of soil health, as they are responsible for mediating 90% of soil functions. Multi-species rotational grazing is a promising strategy for maintaining and improving soil health, yet the potential effects of this grazing management on soil microbiomes are poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we collected soil microbial samples at three timepoints during the 2020 grazing season for 12 total paddocks, which were equally split into four different grazing treatments---cattle only, sheep only, swine only, or multi-species. Shallow shotgun metagenomic sequencing was used to identify taxonomic and functional characteristics of the soil microbial communities.

土壤健康已被强调为再生农业的核心维度，因其对粮食生产、碳封存、水体净化与养分循环均具有至关重要的作用。微生物是土壤健康的关键组成部分，其介导了90%的土壤生态功能。多物种轮牧（Multi-species rotational grazing）是维持与改善土壤健康的极具潜力的策略，但目前学界对该放牧管理模式对土壤微生物组（soil microbiomes）的潜在影响尚缺乏深入认知。为填补这一研究空白，本研究于2020年放牧季内的三个时间点，采集了共计12个放牧围场的土壤微生物样本；该12个围场被平均划分为四种放牧处理组：仅牛放牧、仅羊放牧、仅猪放牧与多物种混合放牧。本研究采用浅层鸟枪宏基因组测序（Shallow shotgun metagenomic sequencing）技术，解析土壤微生物群落的分类学与功能特征。