Effects of Long-Term Fertilizer Practices on Rhizosphere Soil Autotrophic CO(2)-Fixing Bacteria under Double Rice Ecosystem in Southern China

Soil autotrophic bacterial communities play a significant role in the soil carbon (C) cycle in paddy fields, but little is known about how rhizosphere soil microorganisms respond to different long-term (35 years) fertilization practices under double rice cropping ecosystems in southern China. Here, we investigated the variation characteristics of rhizosphere soil RubisCO gene cbbL in the double rice ecosystems of in southern China where such fertilization practices are used. For this experiment we set up the following fertilizer regime: without any fertilizer input as a control (CK), inorganic fertilizer (MF), straw returning (RF), and organic and inorganic fertilizer (OM). We found that abundances of cbbL, 16S rRNA genes and RubisCO activity in rhizosphere soil with OM, RF and MF treatments were significantly higher than that of CK treatment. The abundances of cbbL and 16S rRNA genes in rhizosphere soil with OM treatment were 5.46 and 3.64 times higher than that of CK treatment, respectively. Rhizosphere soil RubisCO activity with OM and RF treatments increased by 50.56 and 45.22%, compared to CK treatment. Shannon and Chao1 indices for rhizosphere soil cbbL libraries with RF and OM treatments increased by 44.28, 28.56, 29.60, and 23.13% compared to CK treatment. Rhizosphere soil cbbL sequences with MF, RF and OM treatments mainly belonged to Variovorax paradoxus, uncultured proteobacterium, Ralstonia pickettii, Thermononospora curvata, and Azoarcus sp.KH33C. Meanwhile, cbbL-carrying bacterial composition was obviously influenced by soil bulk density, rhizosphere soil dissolved organic C, soil organic C, and microbial biomass C contents. Fertilizer practices were the principal factor influencing rhizosphere soil cbbL-carrying bacterial communities. These results showed that rhizosphere soil autotrophic bacterial communities were significantly changed under conditions of different long-term fertilization practices Therefore, increasing rhizosphere soil autotrophic bacteria community with crop residue and organic manure practices was found to be beneficial for management of double rice ecosystems in southern China.