Rhizosphere soil metagenome of rice paddies as influenced by water management practices. soil metagenome

It has been recognized that cultivating rice in aerobic conditions as opposed to continuously flooded condition decreased As concentration in soil, pore water and in rice grains; however, the impacts of different water management practices on As bioavailability and rhizosphere microorganisms which may play an important role in As-cycling in rice paddies are elusive. In our study, we investigated rhizosphere soil bacterial diversity of rice when the rice is cultivated under (1) flooded (the field was kept waterlogged until one week before crop harvesting), (2) non-flooded (~60% of saturated volumetric water) conditions, and (3) AWD conditions (alternate wetting and drying, field was re-flooded when saturated soil volumetric water reaches 40%).