No till with covercrops shift soil microbial diversity and carbon turnover in Laos tropical grasslands

Agricultural practices are important drivers of soil microbial diversity. However, the functional significance of microbial diversity modifications in terms of soil functioning in agrosystems is still poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effect of agricultural management on soil microbial (bacterial and fungal) diversity, in a tropical grassland ecosystem of north-eastern Laos. Three years after native grassland conversion into agricultural land we compared soils from five land use management: one tillage-based rotational cropping system, two no-till rotational systems, one perennial improved pasture, and the natural grassland. Soils were incubated in microcosms during 64 days at optimum temperature and humidity. The bacterial and fungal diversity were evaluated by 454 pyrosequencing of 16S and 18S rRNA gene respectively.