Pedosphere 36(3): 786--801, 2026
ISSN 1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
©2026 Soil Science Society of China
Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press
| Straw management and fertilization improve soil aggregate stability by inducing biological binding agent and specific microbial keystone genera |
Wei GUO1,2, Yunpeng ZHOU1,2, Jisheng XU1, Dandan LI1, Meiqi CHEN4, Qingxia WANG1,2, Tantan ZHOU1,2, Jiabao ZHANG1, Bingzi ZHAO1,3 |
1Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135 (China);
2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China);
3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, Nanjing 211135 (China);
4 School of Geography, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023 (China) |
| ABSTRACT |
| Improving soil aggregate stability through proper fertilization management is essential for crop growth. However, the effects of different fertilization regimes on soil aggregate stability, driven by microorganisms and biological binding agents, remain largely unexplored. For this purpose, we conducted a 9-year field experiment involving two soils of different textures (i.e., loam and clay soils) and five fertilization regimes (i.e., no fertilizer or crop straw return control (CK), crop straw return (ST), traditional chemical fertilization (NT), crop straw return with chemical fertilization (SNT), and crop straw return with chemical fertilization and 20% nitrogen (N) substituted with chicken manure (SNMT)). Mean weight diameter (MWD) of soil aggregates, content of glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP), an important biological binding agent, and soil microbial community composition were investigated. The SNT and SNMT treatments had similar MWD, which was 70.04%-76.84% higher than CK, and the ST and NT treatments had similar MWD, which was 23.43%-33.16% higher than CK, indicating better effects of the SNT and SNMT treatments on the improvement of soil aggregate stability than the ST and NT treatments. Easily extractable GRSP and total GRSP contents contributed to the improved MWD. Meanwhile, some specific keystone genera identified from the keystone modules (co-occurring groups of soil biota including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, bacteria, and nonmycorrhizal fungi) were recognized as important factors regulating MWD, though the selected specific genera in the loam soil differed from those in the clay soil. Altogether, our results highlighted the fundamental role of GRSP and provided a list of microbial taxa linking to MWD in soils of different textures, which could be specifically targeted in specific soils. |
| Key Words: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi|bacteria|glomalin-related soil protein|keystone module|macroaggregates|mean weight diameter|microbial community|nonmycorrhizal fungi|soil texture|straw return |
| Citation: Guo W, Zhou Y P, Xu J S, Li D D, Chen M Q, Wang Q X, Zhou T T, Zhang J B, Zhao B Z. 2026. Straw management and fertilization improve soil aggregate stability by inducing biological binding agent and specific microbial keystone genera. Pedosphere. 36(3): 786-801. |
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