Structural and Functional Responses of Soil Microbial Communities to Biodegradable Plastic Film Mulching in Two Agroecosystems

Biodegradable plastic mulches (BDMs) provide a sustainable alternative to the widely used polyethylene mulch films which are poorly biodegradable and require disposal from field sites after crop harvest. BDMs can be tilled into the soil after the growing season where resident soil microbes are expected to degrade them into carbon dioxide, water and microbial biomass. However, there is considerable uncertainty regarding the fate of BDMs in soil and its effects on soil health. This study is aimed to evaluate the impacts of BDMs on the soil microbial community structure and function over a period of two years in two diverse climates. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing coupled with measurements of microbial abundances and extracellular soil enzyme activities were used to assess the impacts of BDMs on the soil microbiome over the short term.