Ammonium preferring plants affected soil microbial community structure and diversity by root exudates in subtropical acidic soil

Interaction between plants and soil microorganisms is complex and common in the soil-plant ecosystem, yet the effects between plants preferring ammonium and soil microbial community are still not well understood in subtropical acidic soil. In present study, typical plants preferring ammonium such as sugarcane (SS), tea (TS) and lespedeza (LS) which commonly grow in acidic soil were selected to incubate for investing the interaction relationship with soil microorganisms. We found these plants not only significantly changed soil physiochemical properties, like the concentration of ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3-) but also closely related to quantities of organic compounds (especially organic acids and carbohydrates) in soil extracts, as well as the microbial community structure and composition. SS and TS planted soil samples quantified a higher gene copy number of fungi compared with LS and unplanted soil, but with a lower diversity. Relative abundance of Acidobacteria and Solibacteres, Deltaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria of bacterial on class level, and Clitopilus, Mortierella of fungal on genus level were enriched in LS, TS and SS, respectively. About a fifth unique operational taxonomic units (OTUs) including Burkholderia, Rhodospirillaceae, Xanthomonadaceae, Penicillium and Clonostachyswere were detected in plant treatments soils employ ability for plants promoting uptake nutrient and protecting from pathogen. Our results suggest that plants prefer ammonium and soil traits codetermine the composition and ecosystem function of microbial community in subtropical acidic soil.