Study of soil bacterial diversity in mixed cropping system with legume and maize

Mixed cropping with legume and maize can provide biodiverse soil due to the different crops root-root interaction. However, complex interaction between fertilization and cropped legume species towards bacterial diversification mechanisms had been indicated by previous studies. Thus, the purpose of this study was to elucidate the unique soil bacterial community under the use of certain legume species and fertilization, in relation to soil bacterial diversity. We performed a pot study using three legume-maize treatments (maize with one of legumes, namely, cowpea, velvet bean, or common bean) and maize-only treatment. They were cultivated for 50 days with no fertilizer, chemical fertilizer (P, K) or biochar made of chicken manure. After the pot experiment, we collected the soils from each pot and conducted 16S rRNA analyses.