Short-Term Effects of Reclamation of Aquaculture Ponds to Paddy Fields on Soil Chemical Properties and Bacterial Communities in Eastern China Coastal Zone

Abstract

Large areas of tidal flats were previously developed into aquaculture ponds and were recently encouraged to be converted into paddy fields to fulfill food and economic needs in China. However, the influences of short-term rice cultivation at the reclaimed aquaculture ponds on soil chemical properties and bacterial communities are poorly understood. To address this issue, we collected mineral soil samples at 0–20 and 20–40 cm depths from non-cultivated soils and paddy fields after being reclaimed from aquaculture ponds in Nantong, China, and identified soil bacterial communities using high-throughput sequencing. The results suggested that rice cultivation significantly increased the accumulation of total soil carbon (TC) and dissolved organic carbon (WSOC). The pH, ammonium (NH4+), nitrate (NO3−) and available phosphorus (AP) varied with the reclamation duration but did not show a unanimous tendency. Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi and Planctomycetes dominated the bacterial community in both non-cultivated and cultivated soils after reclamation regardless of cultivation ages and soil depth. The variations in the diversity and composition of the soil microbial community were mainly associated with electrical conductivity (EC), WSOC, TC, NH4+ and NO3− in non-cultivated and cultivated lands. Here, we found that short-term rice cultivation at the reclaimed aquaculture ponds strongly influenced soil bacterial communities and chemical properties, especially in the 0–20 cm depth, in the coastal regions.