Changes in Biological Soil Health Properties in Response to Increased Crop Diversity in a Dryland Wheat-Based Cropping System

Abstract

Diversifying wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-based cropping systems is important for the sustainability of dryland agriculture. Research has focused on the agronomic benefits of increased crop diversity in semi-arid environments, but less is known about the impacts of increased crop diversity on the soil microbial community. This work compared soil health parameters between a continuous wheat crop sequence to a diverse sequence that included pea (Pisum sativum L.), proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), safflower (Carthamus tinctorius, L.), and spring wheat. Respiration was higher (p .05). No difference was observed in bacterial alpha diversity, while fungal community diversity was 52% lower in the diverse rotation. The results of this work suggest that specific crops in a rotation may impact microbial processes related to nitrogen mineralization and that the soil fungal community may be more sensitive to changes in crop sequence than the soil bacterial community.