No tillage and residue mulching method on bacterial community diversity regulation in a black soil region of Northeastern China

Soil microorganisms are important components of agricultural ecosystems; they are important in agricultural soil nutrient cycle and are easily affected by soil tillage. The response of soil microbial community to tillage is very complex, and the effect of the no tillage and residue mulching method on soil microbial diversity remains unclear. In 2019, the soil was collected from an experimental field after 10 years of continuous cultivation in the black soil area of the Sanjiang Plain in Northeastern China. In this study, the diversity and composition of the soil bacterial community and their relationship with soil properties were explored via high-throughput sequencing under no tillage with four residue mulching treatments. No tillage with 60% residue mulching (NTR3) significantly increased the alpha diversity of the rhizosphere soil bacteria and changed the composition of the bacterial community—consistent with changes in soil physicochemical properties. Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria were the dominant phyla in the sample soil. Soil physicochemical properties explained 80.6% of the changes in soil diversity and composition, of which soil organic carbon, soil pH, and soil temperature were the principal contributors. Our results suggest that no tillage and residue mulching is conducive to increasing soil organic carbon and soil nutrient content, which is a beneficial conservation tillage measure for black soil protection in Sanjiang Plain of Northeast China. The no tillage with residue mulching, especially 60% residue mulching, alters soil bacterial community and highlights the importance of soil physicochemical properties in shaping the diversity and composition of the soil bacterial community. Our findings contribute to a broad understanding of the effects of no tillage and residue mulching on bacterial community differences and provide a scientific basis for the optimization of no tillage measures and sustainable utilization of the black soil of the Sanjiang Plain in Northeastern China.