Crop rotation mesocosm experiment, Lüneburg, Germany

This is a two growing-season mesocosm experiment, conducted in Lüneburg, Germany, mimicking a crop rotation. The aim is to test a legagy effect of precrop on the diversity of Glomeromycota (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, AMF) of the next crop. In a first phase, four precrops of different functional symbiotic groups were grown: spring canola (Brassica napus cv. Medicus, NPZ, non-rhizobial / non-AM), withe lupine (Lupinus albus cv. Energy, Feldsaaten Freudenberger, rhizobial / non-AM), spring barley (Hordeum vulgare cv. Barke, Saatzucht Breun, non rhizobial/AM) faba bean (Vicia faba cv. Tiffany, NPZ, rhizobial / AM). In a second phase, an AM crop (winter barley, Hordeum vulgare, cv. Antonella, Nordsaat Saatzucht, non-rhizobial / AM) was grown. AMF diversity was analyzed with Illumina sequencing of LSU sequences (primers LR2rev-LR3) in inoculum soils, in soil after precrop harvest, and in soil and root at the crop harvest.