Comparative Study on Soil Microbial Community Structure and Diversity in Five Tea (Camellia sinensis) Cultivars

摘要

The soil microbial community associates with plant cultivar. Soil microbiomes can largely contribute to plant growth, health and agricultural production. However, the soil microbial community structure and diversity in relation to different tea (Camellia sinensis) cultivars remains unknown. By utilizing high-throughput 16S rRNA gene Illumina sequencing, we systematically studied and compared the microbial community and potential function in the bulk soils of 5 tea cultivars cultivated in a tea plantation for 15 years in central south of China. The tea cultivars were Bixiangzao (BXZ), Zaofengchun (ZFC), Rougui (RG), Maoxie (MX) and Baihaozao (BHZ). There were significant differences in soils communities for the relative abundances of six dominant phyla Actinobacteria, candidate division WPS-2, Chloroflexi, Planctomycetes, Proteobacteria and Thaumarchaeota between both of Bixiangzao and Baihaozao and the other three cultivars (P < 0.05). Relative abundance of genus Nitrososphaera in soil of cultivar Bixiangzao was significantly higher than the soils of others cultivars. According to Chao1 and Richness diversity indices, the cultivar Bixiangzao had the highest soil microbial diversity relative to other cultivars. The principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) of soil microbial communities based on weighted Unifrac distances revealed a clear separation between Bixiangzao and other cultivars. Pearson relationship analysis showed that pH and TOC contents were major soil factors to positively influence the microbial diversity of different tea cultivars. Functional Annotation of Prokaryotic Taxa was adopted to predict that the percent relative abundances of aerobic ammonia oxidation, nitrification and fermentation functional bacteria in the soils of cultivar Bixiangzao were significantly higher compared with other cultivars. Our results indicated that the selection of cultivar Bixiangzao may support and foster a large number of specific microbiota and a favorable microecological environment in tea plantation. This study provided theoretical basis for future studies on rhizosphere effect guiding the tea plantation soil community influenced by different tea cultivars.