Changes in soil prokaryotic community structure following pesticide additions to agrosoddy-podzolic soil

Abstract

The microbial community is an essential component of the soil ecosystem. The application of mineral fertilizers and pesticides leads to taxonomic and functional rearrangements in the structure of the prokaryotic soil community. Compared with classical cultivation methods, molecular genetic techniques of analysis make it possible to estimate the extent of these changes with a given accuracy. The aim of the work was to study the effect of three pesticides on the structure of the prokaryotic community of agrosoddy-podzolic soil using DNA metabarcoding and metagenomics. With the joint application of three pesticides, the dominance of representatives of the phylogenetic group Proteobacteria is observed in the soil microbial community. When the herbicide of metribuzin is applied to the soil at a 10-fold rate, the proportion of bacteria Flavisolibacter ginsengisoli increases. It was found that when the herbicide, insecticide and fungicide are applied individually, the bacteria are reduced in the number of Mycobacterium madagascariense and Candidatus Nitrocosmicus bacteria. In all variants of the experiment, when pesticides were added, both in the recommended application rate and in the 10-fold rate, an increase in the presence of bacteria Sphingomonas parvus was observed. This indicates a high hydrolytic activity of these bacteria. The established fact can be used in further experiments on the pesticide biodegradation and on the remediation of contaminated areas.