Soil microbial diversity and soil physicochemical correlation in Atractylodes japonica Koidz.ex Kitam.

As a critical component of Earth's biogeochemical cycles, soil microbial communities exert profound impacts on plant growth and development. They not only sustain soil health and fertility but also significantly influence crop quality. In this study, we employed ITS rRNA and 16S rRNA sequencing to analyze the composition and structure of soil microbial communities under different vegetation types in identical environments. The results revealed distinct specificity in soil microbial communities and physicochemical properties associated with Atractylodes japonica compared to other plants. Non-rhizosphere soils of A. japonica exhibited higher pH, available potassium (AK), and available phosphorus (AP), but lower soil organic carbon (SOC). Redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that soil bacteria and fungi were broadly influenced by similar physicochemical factors, yet key drivers of microbial community structure varied significantly across vegetation types. The microbial composition in A. japonica cultivation areas was primarily governed by AP, AK, and pH (p < 0.05).Soybean field soil (PGS) communities exhibited significant positive correlations with pH, total phosphorus (TP), and nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N) (p < 0.05).Forest native soil (FS) microbial distribution was closely linked to ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N), SOC, and total nitrogen (TN), reflecting carbon and nitrogen cycling dynamics (p < 0.05).These findings deepen our understanding of soil microbial communities in A. japonica ecosystems and highlight key soil factors shaping their distribution and functionality.