Please wait a minute...
Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2025, Vol. 24 Issue (3): 885-899    DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2024.09.019
Section 2: Drivers of grassland ecosystem changes Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Host preferences of root-associated fungi and their responses to decadal nitrogen and fungicide applications in an alpine pasture ecosystem

Hao Xi1, 2, Jing Zeng2, Jiayao Han2, Yali Zhang2, Jianbin Pan1, Qi Zhang1, Huyuan Feng1, Yongjun Liu2#

1 School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
 Highlights 
Root-associated fungi (RAF) show strong host preferences in alpine grasslands.
RAF richness is reduced by fungicide application, but not by nitrogen addition.
The importance of RAF to plant performance varies between plant species.
Download:  PDF in ScienceDirect  
Export:  BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)      
摘要  
植物根系与多种真菌紧密互作,这些真菌被称为根相关真菌,它们对维持牧草生态系统的生产力和可持续性至关重要。然而,不同牧草物种间的根相关真菌群落是否具有差异,以及这些真菌如何响应施肥和杀真菌剂,这些问题目前仍研究较少。本研究在高寒牧草生态系统中,基于连续11年施氮(4个水平)和杀真菌剂(有或无)的交互实验样地,研究了两种优势牧草(线叶嵩草[Carex capillifolia]和垂穗披碱草[Elymus nutans])的根相关真菌群落组成、根系性状、组织养分和地上生物量。结果表明,两种植物间的根相关真菌群落组成差异显著,且同时受施氮和杀真菌剂的影响。施用杀真菌剂显著降低了两种植物所有根相关真菌功能群的物种丰富度,且引起线叶嵩草根相关真菌的共现网络结构趋于简单化。此外,根相关真菌的群落组成与植物的根系性状紧密相关,但这种相关性在单植物物种水平上很弱甚至消失。根相关真菌对植物氮养分和生物量的重要性因植物物种而异:它们对线叶嵩草极为重要,对垂穗披碱草却贡献很小。本研究首次在高寒牧草生态系统中阐明了长期施用杀真菌剂对根相关真菌群落的影响,相关研究发现也强调了根相关真菌群落的结构和功能对人为扰动的响应具有宿主特异性。


Abstract  

Plant roots interact with diverse fungi that are essential for maintaining the productivity and sustainability of pasture ecosystems, but how these root-associated fungi (RAF) differ between forage species and how they respond to nutrient enrichment and fungicide application are not well understood.  Here, we constructed an 11-year experiment involving fungicide application (with or without) nested within four levels of experimental nitrogen (N) addition treatments in an alpine pasture, and the RAF communities, root traits, tissue nutrients, and shoot biomass of two dominant forage species (Carex capillifolia and Elymus nutans) were analyzed.  The RAF community composition showed striking differences between the plant species and was strongly affected by both N addition level and fungicide applications.  Fungicide, but not N application, dramatically reduced the RAF richness of all functional guilds in both plant species, and fungicide also simplified the co-occurrence network of the RAF for Ccapillifolia.  The RAF community correlated strongly with root traits, whereas their relationships became weakened or even vanished at the level of the individual plant species.  The importance of RAF to plant nutrients and productivity varied between plant species, with significant contributions in Ccapillifolia but not in E. nutans.  This is the first report elucidating the long-term effect of fungicides on RAF in alpine pastures, and our findings emphasize the host-specific responses of RAF community structure and function to anthropogenic disturbances.


Keywords:  nitrogen       fungicide        root-associated fungi        host preference        co-occurrence network        plant–fungal interaction  
Received: 27 May 2024   Accepted: 02 September 2024
Fund: 

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFF0805602), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U21A20186, 32171579, 32371592 and 32471674) and the Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province, China (23JRRA1029 and 23JRRA1034).

About author:  Hao Xi, E-mail: xih19@lzu.edu.cn; #Correspondence Yongjun Liu, E-mail: yjliu@lzu.edu.cn

Cite this article: 

Hao Xi, Jing Zeng, Jiayao Han, Yali Zhang, Jianbin Pan, Qi Zhang, Huyuan Feng, Yongjun Liu. 2025. Host preferences of root-associated fungi and their responses to decadal nitrogen and fungicide applications in an alpine pasture ecosystem. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 24(3): 885-899.

Abbas A, Mubeen M, Sohail M A, Solanki M K, Hussain B, Nosheen S, Kashyap B K, Zhou L, Fang X. 2022. Root rot a silent alfalfa killer in China: Distribution, fungal, and oomycete pathogens, impact of climatic factors and its management. Frontiers in Microbiology13, 961794.

Abrego N, Huotari T, Tack A J M, Lindahl B D, Tikhonov G, Somervuo P, Schmidt N M, Ovaskainen O, Roslin T. 2020. Higher host plant specialization of root-associated endophytes than mycorrhizal fungi along an arctic elevational gradient. Ecology and Evolution10, 8989–9002.

Alzarhani A K, Clark D R, Underwood G J C, Ford H, Cotton T E A, Dumbrell A J. 2019. Are drivers of root-associated fungal community structure context specific? The ISME Journal13, 1330–1344.

Archer E. 2016. rfPermute: Estimate permutation p-values for random forest importance metrics. [2023-8-23]. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=rfPermute

Banerjee S, Walder F, Buchi L, Meyer M, Held A Y, Gattinger A, Keller T, Charles R, Heijden M G A. 2019. Agricultural intensification reduces microbial network complexity and the abundance of keystone taxa in roots. The ISME Journal13, 1722–1736.

Barbetti M, You M, Li H, Ma X, Sivasithamparam K. 2007. Management of root diseases of annual pasture legumes in Mediterranean ecosystems - a case study of subterranean clover root diseases in the south-west of Western Australia. Phytopathologia Mediterranea46, 239–258.

Bergmann J, Weigelt A, van Der Plas F, Laughlin D C, Kuyper T W, Guerrero-Ramirez N R, Valverde-Barrantes O J, Bruelheide H, Freschet G T, Iversen C M, et al. 2020. The fungal collaboration gradient dominates the root economics space in plants. Science Advances6, eaba3756.

Bever J D, Mangan S A, Alexander H M. 2015. Maintenance of plant species diversity by pathogens. Annual Review of EcologyEvolutionand Systematics46, 305–325.

Bizabani C, Dames J F. 2016. Assimilation of organic and inorganic nutrients by Erica root fungi from the fynbos ecosystem. Fungal Biology120, 370–375.

Blondel V D, Guillaume J L, Lambiotte R, Lefebvre E. 2008. Fast unfolding of communities in large networks. Journal of Statistical MechanicsTheory and Experiment10, P10008.

Borcard D, Legendre P, Drapeau P. 1992. Partialling out the spatial component of ecological variation. Ecology73, 1045–1055.

Botnen S, Vik U, Carlsen T, Eidesen P B, Davey M L, Kauserud H. 2014. Low host specificity of root-associated fungi at an Arctic site. Molecular Ecology23, 975–985.

Botnen S S, Thoen E, Eidesen P B, Krabberod A K, Kauserud H. 2020. Community composition of arctic root-associated fungi mirrors host plant phylogeny. FEMS Microbiology Ecology96, faa185.

Chen C, Xiao W, Chen H Y H. 2023. Mapping global soil acidification under N deposition. Global Change Biology29, 4652–4661.

Clemmensen K E, Bahr A, Ovaskainen O, Dahlberg A, Ekblad A, Wallander H, Stenlid J, Finlay R D, Wardle D A, Lindahl B D. 2013. Roots and associated fungi drive long-term carbon sequestration in boreal forest. Science339, 1615–1618.

Dean S L, Farrer E C, Taylor D L, Porras-Alfaro A, Suding K N, Sinsabaugh R L. 2014. Nitrogen deposition alters plant-fungal relationships: Linking belowground dynamics to aboveground vegetation change. Molecular Ecology23, 1364–1378.

Delgado-Baquerizo M, Reich P B, Trivedi C, Eldridge D J, Abades S, Alfaro F D, Bastida F, Berhe A A, Cutler N A, Gallardo A, Garcia-Velazquez L, Hart S C, Hayes P E, He J Z, Hseu Z Y, Hu H W, Kirchmair M, Neuhauser S, Perez C A, Reed S C, et al. 2020. Multiple elements of soil biodiversity drive ecosystem functions across biomes. Nature Ecology and Evolution4, 210–220.

Ding G, Zeng W, Sun L, Chen F S, Lyu Y, Xu J, Yan T, Wang H, Ma Z. 2024. Root acquisitive traits mirror the functional modules of root-associated fungi. Soil Biology and Biochemistry190, 109317.

Evans J S, Murphy M A 2016. rfUtilities: Random forests model selection and performance evaluation. [2024-3-24]. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=rfUtilities

Fei S, Kivlin S N, Domke G M, Jo I, LaRue E A, Phillips R P. 2022. Coupling of plant and mycorrhizal fungal diversity: Its occurrence, relevance, and possible implications under global change. New Phytologist234, 1960–1966.

Freschet G T, Roumet C, Comas L H, Weemstra M, Bengough A G, Rewald B, Bardgett R D, De Deyn G B, Johnson D, Klimesova J, Lukac M, McCormack M L, Meier I C, Pages L, Poorter H, Prieto I, Wurzburger N, Zadworny M, Bagniewska-Zadworna A, Blancaflor E B, et al. 2021. Root traits as drivers of plant and ecosystem functioning: Current understanding, pitfalls and future research needs. New Phytologist232, 1123–1158.

Gao W, Chen D, Hu X, Fang X, Li Q, Huang Q, Sun F, Zhou J, Bai Y, Zhang J, Li Z, Zhao J, Yuan D, Cui X, Liu L. 2023. Nitrogen deposition drives the intricate changes of fine root traits. Global Ecology and Conservation43, e02443.

Van Geel M, De Beenhouwer M, Lievens B, Honnay O. 2016. Crop-specific and single-species mycorrhizal inoculation is the best approach to improve crop growth in controlled environments. Agronomy for Sustainable Development36, 37.

Han J, Zhang Y, Xi H, Zeng J, Peng Z, Ali G, Liu Y. 2023. Maize, wheat, and soybean root traits depend upon soil phosphorus fertility and mycorrhizal status. Mycorrhiza33, 359–368.

Hartnett D C, Wilson G W T. 1999. Mycorrhizae influence plant community structure and diversity in tallgrass prairie. Ecology80, 1187–1195.

Hennecke J, Bassi L, Mommer L, Albracht C, Bergmann J, Eisenhauer N, Guerra C A, Heintz-Buschart A, Kuyper T W, Lange M, Solbach M D, Weigelt A. 2023. Responses of rhizosphere fungi to the root economics space in grassland monocultures of different age. New Phytologist240, 2035–2049.

Hobbie S E. 2015. Plant species effects on nutrient cycling: Revisiting litter feedbacks. Trends in Ecology and Evolution30, 357–363.

Jiang S, Ling N, Ma Z, He X, He J S. 2021. Short-term warming increases root-associated fungal community dissimilarities among host plant species on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Plant and Soil466, 597–611.

Jiang S, Liu Y, Luo J, Qin M, Johnson N C, Opik M, Vasar M, Chai Y, Zhou X, Mao L, Du G, An L, Feng H. 2018. Dynamics of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community structure and functioning along a nitrogen enrichment gradient in an alpine meadow ecosystem. New Phytologist220, 1222–1235.

Koyama A, Maherali H, Antunes P M, Pineda A. 2019. Plant geographic origin and phylogeny as potential drivers of community structure in root-inhabiting fungi. Journal of Ecology107, 1720–1736.

Lekberg Y, Arnillas C A, Borer E T, Bullington L S, Fierer N, Kennedy P G, Leff J W, Luis A D, Seabloom E W, Henning J A. 2021. Nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization consistently favor pathogenic over mutualistic fungi in grassland soils. Nature Communications12, 3484.

Li W, Jin C, Guan D, Wang Q, Wang A, Yuan F, Wu J. 2015. The effects of simulated nitrogen deposition on plant root traits: A meta-analysis. Soil Biology and Biochemistry82, 112–118.

Liu S, Liu M, Liao Q G, Lu F B, Zhao X L. 2021. Effects of inoculated mycorrhizal fungi and non-mycorrhizal beneficial micro-organisms on plant traits, nutrient uptake and root-associated fungal community composition of the Cymbidium hybridum in greenhouse. Journal of Applied Microbiology131, 413–424.

Liu S, Yang H, Zhou L, Jin S S, Xie L, Lin C, He J Z, Zheng Y. 2023. Dynamic response of root-associated fungal community structure to nitrogen and phosphorus additions in a subtropical forest. Pedobiologia101, 150909.

Liu Y, Shi G, Mao L, Cheng G, Jiang S, Ma X, An L, Du G, Collins Johnson N, Feng H. 2012. Direct and indirect influences of 8 yr of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization on Glomeromycota in an alpine meadow ecosystem. New Phytologist194, 523–535.

Ma B, Wang H, Dsouza M, Lou J, He Y, Dai Z, Brookes P C, Xu J, Gilbert J A. 2016. Geographic patterns of co-occurrence network topological features for soil microbiota at continental scale in eastern China. The ISME Journal10, 1891–1901.

Ma W, Tang S, Dengzeng Z, Zhang D, Zhang T, Ma X. 2022. Root exudates contribute to belowground ecosystem hotspots: A review. Frontiers in Microbiology13, 937940.

Macia-Vicente J G, Francioli D, Weigelt A, Albracht C, Barry K E, Buscot F, Ebeling A, Eisenhauer N, Hennecke J, Heintz-Buschart A, van Ruijven J, Mommer L. 2023. The structure of root-associated fungal communities is related to the long-term effects of plant diversity on productivity. Molecular Ecology32, 3763–3777.

Maciá-Vicente J G, Nam B, Thines M. 2020. Root filtering, rather than host identity or age, determines the composition of root-associated fungi and oomycetes in three naturally co-occurring Brassicaceae. Soil Biology and Biochemistry146, 107806.

Maron J L, Marler M, Klironomos J N, Cleveland C C. 2011. Soil fungal pathogens and the relationship between plant diversity and productivity. Ecology Letters14, 36–41.

Martin M. 2011. Cutadapt removes adapter sequences from high-throughput sequencing reads. EMBnet Journal17, 10–12.

Marupakula S, Mahmood S, Clemmensen K E, Jacobson S, Hogbom L, Finlay R D. 2021. Root associated fungi respond more strongly than rhizosphere soil fungi to N fertilization in a boreal forest. Science of the Total Environment766, 142597.

Matson P A, Parton W J, Power A G, Swift M J. 1997. Agricultural intensification and ecosystem properties. Science277, 504–509.

McCormack M L, Iversen C M. 2019. Physical and functional constraints on viable belowground acquisition strategies. Frontiers in Plant Science10, 1215.

McKay G J, Brown A E, Bjourson A J, Mercer P C. 1999. Molecular characterisation of Alternaria linicola and its detection in linseed. European Journal of Plant Pathology105, 157–166.

de Menezes A B, Prendergast-Miller M T, Richardson A E, Toscas P, Farrell M, Macdonald L M, Baker G, Wark T, Thrall P H. 2015. Network analysis reveals that bacteria and fungi form modules that correlate independently with soil parameters. Environmental Microbiology17, 2677–2689.

Meng Y, Davison J, Clarke J T, Zobel M, Gerz M, Moora M, Opik M, Bueno C G. 2023. Environmental modulation of plant mycorrhizal traits in the global flora. Ecology Letters26, 1862–1876.

Mordecai E A. 2011. Pathogen impacts on plant communities: Unifying theory, concepts, and empirical work. Ecological Monographs81, 429–441.

Newsham K K, Fitter A H, Watkinson A R. 1994. Root pathogenic and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi determine fecundity of asymptomatic plants in the field. Journal of Ecology82, 805–814.

Nilsson R H, Larsson K H, Taylor A F S, Bengtsson-Palme J, Jeppesen T S, Schigel D, Kennedy P, Picard K, Glockner F O, Tedersoo L, Saar I, Koljalg U, Abarenkov K. 2019. The UNITE database for molecular identification of fungi: Handling dark taxa and parallel taxonomic classifications. Nucleic Acids Research47, D259-D264.

Oksanen J, Blanchet F, Michael F, Kindt R, Legendre P, McGlinn D, Minchin P R, O’Hara R, Simpson G L, Solymos P, Stevens M H H, Szoecs E, Wagner H. 2015. Vegan: Community ecology package. R package version 2.6–4. [2022-10-11]. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=vegan

Põlme S, Abarenkov K, Henrik Nilsson R, Lindahl B D, Clemmensen K E, Kauserud H, Nguyen N, Kjøller R, Bates S T, Baldrian P, Frøslev T G, Adojaan K, Vizzini A, Suija A, Pfister D, Baral H O, Järv H, Madrid H, Nordén J, Liu J K. 2021. FungalTraits: A user-friendly traits database of fungi and fungus-like stramenopiles. Fungal Diversity105, 1–16.

Promputtha I, Lumyong S, Dhanasekaran V, McKenzie E H, Hyde K D, Jeewon R. 2007. A phylogenetic evaluation of whether endophytes become saprotrophs at host senescence. Microbial Ecology53, 579–590.

Qiao Y, Bai Y, Zhang Y, She W, Lai Z, Qin S. 2019. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi shape the adaptive strategy of plants by mediating nutrient acquisition in a shrub-dominated community in the Mu Us Desert. Plant and Soil443, 549–564.

Raut J K, Suzuki A, Yoshihara M. 2011. Effects of environmental factors on basidiospore germination of ammonia fungi Coprinopsis spp. collected from different geographical areas. Mycoscience52, 300–311.

Robinson C H, Wookey P A, Parker T C. 2020. Root-associated fungi and carbon storage in Arctic ecosystems. New Phytologist226, 8–10.

Rognes T, Flouri T, Nichols B, Quince C, Mahe F. 2016. VSEARCH: A versatile open source tool for metagenomics. PeerJ4, e2584.

Schnitzer S A, Klironomos J N, HilleRisLambers J, Kinkel L L, Reich P B, Xiao K, Rillig M C, Sikes B A, Callaway R M, Mangan S A, van Nes E H, Scheffer M. 2011. Soil microbes drive the classic plant diversity–productivity pattern. Ecology92, 621–632.

Schroeder J W, Martin J T, Angulo D F, Arias-Del Razo I, Barbosa J M, Perea R, Sebastián-González E, Dirzo R, Shefferson R. 2019. Host plant phylogeny and abundance predict root-associated fungal community composition and diversity of mutualists and pathogens. Journal of Ecology107, 1557–1566.

Shi J, Wang X, Wang E. 2022. Mycorrhizal symbiosis in plant growth and stress adaptation: from genes to ecosystems. Annual Review of Plant Biology74, 569–607.

Smith S E, Smith F A. 2011. Roles of arbuscular mycorrhizas in plant nutrition and growth: New paradigms from cellular to ecosystem scales. Annual Review of Plant Biology62, 227–250.

Stockinger H, Kruger M, Schussler A. 2010. DNA barcoding of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. New Phytologist187, 461–474.

Sweeney C J, de Vries F T, van Dongen B E, Bardgett R D. 2020. Root traits explain rhizosphere fungal community composition among temperate grassland plant species. New Phytologist229, 1492–1507.

Tedersoo L, Bahram M, Zobel M. 2020. How mycorrhizal associations drive plant population and community biology. Science367, 867.

Trivedi P, Leach J E, Tringe S G, Sa T, Singh B K. 2020. Plant–microbiome interactions: From community assembly to plant health. Nature Reviews Microbiology18, 607–621.

Wagg C, Schlaeppi K, Banerjee S, Kuramae E E, van der Heijden M G A. 2019. Fungal–bacterial diversity and microbiome complexity predict ecosystem functioning. Nature Communications10, 4841.

Walker J F, Aldrich-Wolfe L, Riffel A, Barbare H, Simpson N B, Trowbridge J, Jumpponen A. 2011. Diverse Helotiales associated with the roots of three species of Arctic Ericaceae provide no evidence for host specificity. New Phytologist191, 515–527.

Wang J, Gao Y, Zhang Y, Yang J, Smith M D, Knapp A K, Eissenstat D M, Han X. 2019. Asymmetry in above- and belowground productivity responses to N addition in a semi-arid temperate steppe. Global Change Biology25, 2958–2969.

Wang J, Liao L, Wang G, Liu H, Wu Y, Liu G, Zhang C. 2022. N-induced root exudates mediate the rhizosphere fungal assembly and affect species coexistence. Science of the Total Environment804, 150148.

Wang Q, Garrity G M, Tiedje J M, Cole J R. 2007. Naive Bayesian classifier for rapid assignment of rRNA sequences into the new bacterial taxonomy. Applied and Environmental Microbiology73, 5261–5267.

Wehner J, Powell J R, Muller L A H, Caruso T, Veresoglou S D, Hempel S, Rillig M C. 2014. Determinants of root-associated fungal communities within Asteraceae in a semi-arid grassland. Journal of Ecology102, 425–436.

Weigelt A, Mommer L, Andraczek K, Iversen C M, Bergmann J, Bruelheide H, Fan Y, Freschet G T, Guerrero-Ramirez N R, Kattge J, Kuyper T W, Laughlin D C, Meier I C, van der Plas F, Poorter H, Roumet C, van Ruijven J, Sabatini F M, Semchenko M, Sweeney C J, et al. 2021. An integrated framework of plant form and function: The belowground perspective. New Phytologist232, 42–59.

Wilson G W, Rice C W, Rillig M C, Springer A, Hartnett D C. 2009. Soil aggregation and carbon sequestration are tightly correlated with the abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: Results from long-term field experiments. Ecology Letters12, 452–461.

Wu J, Barahona M, Tan Y J, Deng H Z. 2010. Natural connectivity of complex networks. Chinese Physics Letters27, 078902.

Xi H, Jia M, Kuzyakov Y, Peng Z, Zhang Y, Han J, Ali G, Mao L, Zhang J, Fan T, Liu Y. 2023. Key decomposers of straw depending on tillage and fertilization. AgricultureEcosystems & Environment358, 108717.

Yang G, Liu N, Lu W, Wang S, Kan H, Zhang Y, Xu L, Chen Y. 2014. The interaction between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and soil phosphorus availability influences plant community productivity and ecosystem stability. Journal of Ecology102, 1072–1082.

Yang X, Li Y, Liang R, Ji B, Wang Z, Wang H, Shen Y. 2023. Negative effects of phosphorus addition outweigh effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen addition on grassland temporal stability in the eastern Eurasian desert steppe. Ecology and Evolution13, e10368.

Yang X, Liu Y, Tian H Y, Shen Y. 2021a. Short-term nitrogen and phosphorus additions rather than mycorrhizal suppression determine plant community composition and productivity in desert steppe. Applied Soil Ecology168, 104144.

Yang X, Yuan M, Guo J, Shi L, Zhang T. 2021b. Suppression of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi aggravates the negative interactive effects of warming and nitrogen addition on soil bacterial and fungal diversity and community composition. Applied and Environmental Microbiology87, e0152321.

Zaret M M, Kuhs M A, Anderson J C, Seabloom E W, Borer E T, Kinkel L L. 2022. Seasonal shifts from plant diversity to consumer control of grassland productivity. Ecology Letters25, 1215–1224.

Zhang C, Xiang X, Yang T, Liu X, Ma Y, Zhang K, Liu X, Chu H. 2024. Nitrogen fertilization reduces plant diversity by changing the diversity and stability of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community in a temperate steppe. Science of the Total Environment918, 170775.

Zhang M, Zhang X, Zhang L, Zeng L, Liu Y, Wang X, He P, Li S, Liang G, Zhou W, Ai C. 2021. The stronger impact of inorganic nitrogen fertilization on soil bacterial community than organic fertilization in short-term condition. Geoderma382, 114752.

Zheng H, Yang T, Bao Y, He P, Yang K, Mei X, Wei Z, Xu Y, Shen Q, Banerjee S. 2021. Network analysis and subsequent culturing reveal keystone taxa involved in microbial litter decomposition dynamics. Soil Biology and Biochemistry157, 108230.

Zobel M, Koorem K, Moora M, Semchenko M, Davison J. 2024. Symbiont plasticity as a driver of plant success. New Phytologist241, 2340–2352.

[1] Xucun Jia, Fuli Li, Zhengyan Miao, Xiaoyong Li, Leikang Sun, Yuepeng Wei, Kangna Yang, Hangzhao Guo, Rui Song, Haipeng Shang, Xianli Feng, Yuxia Li, Rongfa Li, Qun Wang. Cultivar mixtures of maize enhance grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency by promoting canopy photosynthetically active radiation and root growth[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2026, 25(4): 0-.
[2] Pan Hou, Qiang Gao, Yingkai Ren, Jinhong Yu, Lijun Gao, Xiaoxue Liu, Dong Jiang, Weixing Cao, Tingbo Dai, Zhongwei Tian. Straw returning and night-warming improve grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency of winter wheat under rice-wheat rotation[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2026, 25(4): 0-.
[3] Guoming Li, Xiaotian Ren, Shengyan Pang, Changjie Feng, Yuxi Niu, Yanjie Qu, Changhong Liu, Xiang Lin, Dong Wang. Nitrogen redistribution during the grain-filling stage and its correlation with senescence and TaATG8 expression in leaves of winter wheat[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2026, 25(4): 0-.
[4] Meiqi Guo, Tongtian Guo, Chuan Guo, Jiqiong Zhou, Gaowen Yang, Yingjun Zhang. Legume introduction enhances rhizosphere phosphorus availability through organic acid-induced dissolution and microbial transformation: Insights from an 11-year field experiment in grassland[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2026, 25(4): 0-.
[5] Qiaohong Fan, Jingnan Zou, Zhimin Lin, Gui Chen, Wu You, Kai Su, Wenxiong Lin. Underlying mechanisms of high carbon budget surplus in low-stubble rice ratooning in Southeast China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2026, 25(3): 918-937.
[6] Shijie Zhang, Yingchun Han, Guoping Wang, Lu Feng, Yaping Lei, Shiwu Xiong, Beifang Yang, Xiaoyu Zhi, Minghua Xin, Yahui Jiao, Xiaofei Li, Yabing Li, Zhen Jiao. Opportunistic keystone diazotrophs from co-occurrence networks drive biological nitrogen fixation in peanut/cotton intercropping systems [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2026, 25(3): 1209-1222.
[7] Hao Wu, Wenjiang Jing, Yajun Zhang, Ying Zhang, Weilu Wang, Kuanyu Zhu, Weiyang Zhang, Junfei Gu, Lijun Liu, Jianhua Zhang, Hao Zhang. Optimized application strategy of controlled-release nitrogen improves grain yield, nitrogen use efficiency and lodging resistance of rice[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2026, 25(3): 903-917.
[8] Xiqiang Li, Yuhong Gao, Zhengjun Cui, Tingfeng Zhang, Shiyuan Chen, Shilei Xiang, Lingling Jia, Bin Yan, Yifan Wang, Lizhuo Guo, Bing Wu . Optimized nitrogen and potassium fertilizers application increases stem lodging resistance and grain yield of oil flax by enhancing lignin biosynthesis[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2026, 25(2): 659-670.
[9] Zichen Liu, Liyan Shang, Shuaijun Dai, Jiayu Ye, Tian Sheng, Jun Deng, Ke Liu, Shah Fahad, Xiaohai Tian, Yunbo Zhang, Liying Huang. Optimizing nitrogen application and planting density improves yield and resource use efficiency via regulating canopy light and nitrogen distribution in rice[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2026, 25(1): 81-91.
[10] Ligong Peng, Sicheng Deng, Wentao Yi, Yizhu Wu, Yingying Zhang, Xiangbin Yao, Pipeng Xing, Baoling Cui, Xiangru Tang. Partial organic fertilizer substitution and water-saving irrigation can reduce greenhouse gas emissions in aromatic rice paddy by regulating soil microorganisms while increasing yield and aroma[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2026, 25(1): 273-289.
[11] Shending Chen, Ahmed S. Elrys, Siwen Du, Wenyan Yang, Zucong Cai, Jinbo Zhang, Lei Meng, Christoph Müller. Soil nitrogen dynamics regulate differential nitrogen uptake between rice and upland crops[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2026, 25(1): 302-312.
[12] Lei Wu, Jing Hu, Muhammad Shaaban, Jun Wang, Kailou Liu, Minggang Xu, Wenju Zhang. Long-term manure amendment enhances N2O emissions from acidic soil by alleviating acidification and increasing nitrogen mineralization[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2026, 25(1): 262-272.
[13] Hanqiang Lü, Aizhong Yu, Qiang Chai, Feng Wang, Yulong Wang, Pengfei Wang, Yongpan Shang, Xuehui Yang. No-tillage with total green manure incorporation: A better strategy to higher maize yield and nitrogen uptake in arid irrigation areas[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2025, 24(9): 3403-3417.
[14] Xiaoqing Wang, Wenjiao Shi, Qiangyi Yu, Xiangzheng Deng, Lijun Zuo, Xiaoli Shi, Minglei Wang, Jun Li. Well-facilitated farmland improves nitrogen use efficiency and reduces environmental impacts in the Huang-Huai-Hai Region, China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2025, 24(8): 3264-3281.
[15] Siriyaporn Chanapanchai, Wahdan Fitriya, Ida Bagus Made Artadana, Kanyaratt Supaibulwatana. Important role and benefits of Azolla plants in the management of agroecosystem services, biodiversity, and sustainable rice production in Southeast Asia[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2025, 24(8): 3004-3023.
No Suggested Reading articles found!