Bacterial community structure of saline-alkali soils

Halophilic heterotrophic sludge (HHS) recovers phosphorus (P) from saline wastewater as biomass, which could potentially be applied as P-rich fertilizers in saline-alkali areas. However, the effectiveness of P in the recycled biomass is constrained by the inherently low microbial activity of the soil. In this project, we put forward the cooperation of HHS with halotolerant phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) as a promising P biofertilizer for saline-alkali soils. We demonstrated the effectiveness of the strategy through a microcosm experiment, with an in-depth assessment of underlying mechanisms, including shifts in soil P speciation, enzyme activities, microbial community characteristics, and soil metabolome alterations.The bacterial community of the soil samples was characterized by the high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA amplicons. It was used to analyze the influence of the treatments on soil microbial community structure.