Soil microbial community structures are shaped by agricultural systems revealing little temporal variation

Many studies in soil microbial ecology are undertaken with a single sampling event, thus a greater understanding of how temporal progression influences the soil microbiome is needed. Under field conditions, this study aimed to determine if any differences in soil microbiome structures between both sharply contrasting agricultural systems and between comparatively similar agricultural systems persist through changing growth conditions within the growing season. Soil samples were taken from different agricultural systems; a sown grassland to maize rotation (MC), an intensively managed permanent grassland (INT), as well as extensively managed permanent grasslands with high (EXT_HP), low to sufficient (EXT_LP) and deficient available P (EXT_DP), six times throughout the 2017 growing season (May - October).