In agroecosystems, fertilization management significantly influences soil quality, as well as the microbial community structure and its stability. However, the relationship between improved farmland soil quality and microbial community stability has remained unclear.
In a study published in European Journal of Soil Science, researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences investigated the effects of long-term fertilization management on soil quality and microbial community stability. Their results demonstrated that soil bulk density and pH are critical, direct factors regulating the temporal stability of soil bacteria and fungi in agricultural systems.
Based on a long-term field experiment over 33 years (1982-2015), the researchers investigated the effects of fertilization management on soil properties and microbial community dynamics, including no fertilization (NF), natural recovery (NR), mineral fertilizers (NPK), combined wheat straw incorporation (WS), and cattle manure organic fertilizer (CM).
By analyzing the temporal dynamics of soil microbial co-occurrence networks, the researchers evaluated the relationship between the community stability and soil quality.
They found that fertilization changed farmland quality. However, there was no correlation between soil quality and the robustness, vulnerability, or compositional stability of bacterial and fungal co-occurrence networks. Fertilization management indirectly regulated microbial community structure by altering soil physicochemical properties; however, microbial community stability (e.g., robustness, vulnerability) did not increase with improvements in soil quality.
Among the 14 soil parameters analyzed, soil bulk density was a major contributor to the compositional stability of both bacterial and fungal communities. Its influence surpassed that of microbial diversity metrics and dissolved organic carbon. Soil pH and microbial diversity were also significant regulators.
Furthermore, long-term application of cow manure combined with mineral fertilizers improved microbial community stability more effectively than mineral fertilizers alone or with straw return. Fertilization management directly altered microbial composition stability, independent of seasonal changes.
“Our study represents the first exploration of the relationship between farmland soil quality and microbial community stability, providing an important scientific theoretical basis for improving the stability of farmland soil microbial communities,” said LIU Changan of XTBG.
First published: 04 January 2026
