Microbial association with the dynamics of particulate organic carbon in response to the amendment of elevated CO2-derived wheat residue into a Mollisol

- Amendment of eCO2-derived shoot had greater contribution to SOC sequestration compared to aCO2-derived shoot.
- The increase of SOC mainly occurred in coarse iPOC.
- There was no difference in SOC between aCO2- and eCO2-derived root amendments.
- The bacterial community composition differed between aCO2- and eCO2-derived shoot amendments.
- Changes of bacterial taxa in response to residue return may contribute to soil C sequestration.

As the chemical quality of crop residue is likely to be affected by elevated CO2 (eCO2), residue amendments may influence soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. However, in Mollisols, the dynamics of the SOC fractions in response to amendment with wheat residue produced under eCO2 and the corresponding microbial community composition remain unknown. Such investigation is essential to residue management, which affects the soil quality and productivity of future farming systems. To narrow this knowledge gap, 13C-labeled shoot and root residue derived from ambient CO2 (aCO2) or eCO2 were amended into Mollisols and incubated for 200 days. The soil was sampled during the incubation period to determine the residue-C retained in the three SOC fractions, i.e., coarse intra-aggregate particulate organic C (coarse iPOC), fine iPOC and mineral-associated organic C (MOC). The soil bacterial community was assessed using a MiSeq sequencing instrument. The results showed that the increase in SOC concentrations attributable to the application of the wheat residue primarily occurred in the coarse iPOC fraction. Compared with the aCO2-derived shoot residue, the amendment of eCO2-derived shoot residue resulted in greater SOC concentrations, whereas no significant differences (P > 0.05) were observed between the aCO2- and eCO2-derived roots. Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) showed that the residue amendment significantly (P ≤ 0.05) altered the bacterial community composition compared with the non-residue amendment. Additionally, the bacterial community in the aCO2-derived shoot treatment differed from those in the other residue treatments until day 200 of the incubation period. The eCO2-derived shoot treatment significantly increased (P ≤ 0.05) the relative abundances of the genera Acidobacteriaceae_(Subgroup_1)_uncultured, Bryobacter, Candidatus_Solibacter, Gemmatimonas and Nitrosomonadaceae_uncultured, whereas the opposite trend was observed in Nonomuraea, Actinomadura, Streptomyces and Arthrobacter (P ≤ 0.05). These results imply that the response of the microbial community to the eCO2-derived shoot treatment is associated with its contribution to the POC fractions.

The bacterial community in response to the amendment of the eCO2-derived shoot differs from that in aCO2-derived shoot until day 200 of the incubation period.198