Effects of straw return on bacterial communities in a wheat-maize rotation system in the North China Plain

Straw return plays an important role in reducing the use of chemical fertilizer, promoting soil carbon sequestration, thus maintaining soil fertility and alleviating environmental pollution. To examine the effects of straw return on soil bacterial communities, quantitative PCR and high-throughput sequencing approaches were used to analyze the bacterial abundance and community structures at the depths of 5–25 cm and 25–45 cm in the soils under six-year continuous straw return and removal treatments in Langfang, Hebei, the North China Plain. As a result, straw return had no effects on soil chemical properties, bacterial abundance, richness or diversity at both soil depths. In contrast, vertical distributions of available nitrogen and available potassium were affected. Similarly, straw return also changed the vertical distributions of Proteobacteria and Chloroflexi. Principal coordinate analysis based on weighted UniFrac distance matrix indicated a moderate separation of the bacterial community in the soil treated with straw return from that with straw removal at 5–25 cm depth, but they were not distinctly distinguished at 25–45 cm depth. T-test identified increased abundance of Candidatus Latescibacteria in the soil under straw return treatment at 5–25 cm depth but no differentially abundant phyla at 25–45 cm depth was found. These results suggested a selection effect from the six-year continuous straw return treatment and the soil bacterial communities were moderately changed.