Soil Microbial Community Diversity and Its Relationships with Geochemical Elements under different Farmlands in Shouguang, China

The aims of this study were to investigate soil microbial community characteristics and their interrelationships with soil geochemistry under different farmlands in Shouguang, China. The traditional dilution plate counts, BIOLOG system, and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analyses were used to assess microbial populations, substrate utilization, and fatty acid profiles. The number of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria varied significantly among untilled land, maize, and mungbean fields. The amounts of actinomycetes, fungal fatty acids, and Gram-positive/Gram-negative bacteria ratios varied greatly among celery, tomato, and aubergine fields. In the tomato field, the soil microbial community characteristics were significantly different from other fields. Principal component analysis of BIOLOG and FAME data revealed differences in the catabolic capability and fatty acid profiles of soil microbial communities among different farmlands. Spearman correlation analyses showed that in these sand clay soils of Shouguang, microbial communities in different farmlands were closely correlated with soil geochemical elements, moisture, and organic matter.