Intercropping in Sugarcane Cultivation Influenced the Soil Properties and Enhanced the Diversity of Vital Diazotrophic Bacteria
Abstract To investigate the effect of sugarcane intercropping cultivation (peanut and soybean) on the soil properties and diazotrophic bacterial diversity, soil survey was conducted at four different locations of Guangxi, China. Principal component analysis of soil chemical properties showed difference among intercropping and monoculture samples. Next to this, PCA graph of soil biological properties were shown grouping among intercropping and monoculture samples. Two-way analysis of variance results of soil properties showed a significant interactive effect by locations and cultivation systems. Microbial enumeration …show more content…
China is the third biggest sugar producing country after Brazil and India, and Guangxi, Yunnan and western Guangdong are the major sugarcane producing areas of China. Therefore, sugar industry is the most important contributor to the socio-economic development of these areas (Li and Yang 2015). Sugarcane produces heavy tonnage of biomass. Sugarcane biomass removes the largest amount micro and macro nutrients from the cultivated soil. For optimum production, a high-yielding variety desires more nutrients, particularly nitrogen besides other inputs. Sugarcane crop has a high requirement of nitrogen that usually exceed the natural transport capacity of soil through mineralization of organic matters (Garside et al. 2005). In China, farmers habitually apply 400–800 kg N, 150–300 kg P2O5 and 250–500 K2O per hectare in sugarcane production and it is multiple times of that in Brazil. Over fertilization, not only raises the production cost, but also causes serious environmental pollution (Herridge et al. 2008; Li and Yang 2015). However, there are vast areas of the developing world where N fertilizers are neither available nor affordable. Even in developed states, financial and ecological concerns dictate that biological alternatives which can increase, and in some cases replace, N fertilizers must be sought (Hartemink 2010). Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) …show more content…
China, India, Indonesia, Niger, Mali and Ethiopia have shown considerable attention in intercropping to get better yield and suitable utilization of resources (Li et al. 2013; Wang et al. 2014; Peng et al. 2014; Li et al. 2015a). In the past, China and sub-Saharan Africa has shown better crop production and improved nutrient acquisition under unfavorable conditions by cereal/legume intercropping (Zhang and Li 2003; Mucheru-Muna et al. 2010; Wang et al. 2014). Intercropping system also helps to reduce soil erosion, fix atmospheric N2, decrease the risk of crop failure or disease and increase the land use efficiency (Xia et al. 2013; Wang et al. 2014). In many developing countries, more than half of the rain-fed crops are usually intercropped. Sugarcane is a long duration crop and it offers a unique prospective for intercropping. Sugarcane is planted in wide rows, and requires several months to canopy, during this time the soil areas, solar energy and rain water go waste. Any inter-row crop must therefore mature and be harvested within 90-120 days before the cane canopies (Parsons 2003). Sugarcane plants are able to obtain nitrogen via N2-fixation associated with N2-fixing bacteria including rhizobia. In some recent studies, many nitrogen fixing microbes has been found to be associated with sugarcane, such as Bacillus,
Abstract To investigate the effect of sugarcane intercropping cultivation (peanut and soybean) on the soil properties and diazotrophic bacterial diversity, soil survey was conducted at four different locations of Guangxi, China. Principal component analysis of soil chemical properties showed difference among intercropping and monoculture samples. Next to this, PCA graph of soil biological properties were shown grouping among intercropping and monoculture samples. Two-way analysis of variance results of soil properties showed a significant interactive effect by locations and cultivation systems. Microbial enumeration …show more content…
China is the third biggest sugar producing country after Brazil and India, and Guangxi, Yunnan and western Guangdong are the major sugarcane producing areas of China. Therefore, sugar industry is the most important contributor to the socio-economic development of these areas (Li and Yang 2015). Sugarcane produces heavy tonnage of biomass. Sugarcane biomass removes the largest amount micro and macro nutrients from the cultivated soil. For optimum production, a high-yielding variety desires more nutrients, particularly nitrogen besides other inputs. Sugarcane crop has a high requirement of nitrogen that usually exceed the natural transport capacity of soil through mineralization of organic matters (Garside et al. 2005). In China, farmers habitually apply 400–800 kg N, 150–300 kg P2O5 and 250–500 K2O per hectare in sugarcane production and it is multiple times of that in Brazil. Over fertilization, not only raises the production cost, but also causes serious environmental pollution (Herridge et al. 2008; Li and Yang 2015). However, there are vast areas of the developing world where N fertilizers are neither available nor affordable. Even in developed states, financial and ecological concerns dictate that biological alternatives which can increase, and in some cases replace, N fertilizers must be sought (Hartemink 2010). Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) …show more content…
China, India, Indonesia, Niger, Mali and Ethiopia have shown considerable attention in intercropping to get better yield and suitable utilization of resources (Li et al. 2013; Wang et al. 2014; Peng et al. 2014; Li et al. 2015a). In the past, China and sub-Saharan Africa has shown better crop production and improved nutrient acquisition under unfavorable conditions by cereal/legume intercropping (Zhang and Li 2003; Mucheru-Muna et al. 2010; Wang et al. 2014). Intercropping system also helps to reduce soil erosion, fix atmospheric N2, decrease the risk of crop failure or disease and increase the land use efficiency (Xia et al. 2013; Wang et al. 2014). In many developing countries, more than half of the rain-fed crops are usually intercropped. Sugarcane is a long duration crop and it offers a unique prospective for intercropping. Sugarcane is planted in wide rows, and requires several months to canopy, during this time the soil areas, solar energy and rain water go waste. Any inter-row crop must therefore mature and be harvested within 90-120 days before the cane canopies (Parsons 2003). Sugarcane plants are able to obtain nitrogen via N2-fixation associated with N2-fixing bacteria including rhizobia. In some recent studies, many nitrogen fixing microbes has been found to be associated with sugarcane, such as Bacillus,