Effect of chemical fumigation and biofumigation on the soil bacterial community diversity

Chemical fumigation is an agronomic practice used to reduce soil-borne diseases in high-value crop systems, including potato production systems. Although chemical fumigation effectively reduces soil-borne diseases, it may impact non-targeted microorganisms, subsequently altering soil microbial diversity. Biofumigation using a mustard crop rotation has been proposed as a plant-based alternative to chemical fumigation for the management of soil-borne diseases. However, chemical fumigation and biofumigation with fresh mustard plant residues have not been directly compared for their effects on the soil microbial community. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of chemical fumigation with either chloropicrin or metam sodium, used alone or combined with an organic amendment, and biofumigation with fresh mustard plant residues on the soil bacterial community diversity and composition using amplicon-based next-generation sequencing.