Microbial communities in the root of nature farming rice

Nature farming system, an ecological farming system has been proposed to mitigate the negative impacts of intensive use of agrochemicals and mechanization, towards a sustainable crop production. Several nature farming management strategies have been developed including no use of agrochemicals, reduced tillage, mulching with plant residue, crop rotation, intercropping and use of biofertilizer. Root microbiomes are thought to provide robust growth and yield of crops as well as give resilience to pathogen and insect damage under the nature farming system. However, we still have limited understanding on the diversity and functions of root microbiomes associated with the nature farming system. Here, we compared the root microbial community structure of rice grown under nature and conventional farming practices. The high-throughput amplicon sequence analysis revealed that nature farming practices have higher abundance and diverse root microbiomes. The application of chemical fertilizers reduced the microbial community compositions, indicating that the nature farming practice positively shaped root microbiomes well suited for low-input cultivation systems.

自然耕作系统（Nature farming system）是一类为缓解农用化学品集约化使用与机械化作业带来的负面影响、实现作物可持续生产而提出的生态耕作体系。目前已开发出多项自然耕作管理策略，包括禁用农用化学品、少耕、植物残体覆盖、轮作、间作以及生物肥料施用等。研究表明，在自然耕作体系下，根系微生物组（root microbiomes）能够助力作物健壮生长与增产，并增强其对病原菌与虫害的抵抗能力。然而，当前学界对与自然耕作体系相关的根系微生物组的多样性与功能仍了解有限。本研究对比了自然耕作与常规耕作模式下种植的水稻的根系微生物群落结构。高通量扩增子测序分析结果显示，自然耕作模式下的根系微生物组丰度更高、多样性更为丰富。化肥的施用会降低微生物群落组成的多样性，这表明自然耕作方式可正向塑造适配低投入栽培系统的根系微生物群落。