High-throughput sequencing approach to access the impact of nanozeolite treatment on species richness and evenness of soil metagenome

Microbial diversity is a very crucial component for the soil health maintenance. The present study investigated the effects of nanozeolite on bacterial diversity of soil from the agricultural field which was under 4-year field trial with wheat crop. Nanozeolite was amended in the treated plot whereas, the control plot did not receive any treatment. The bacterial population was targeted through the hypervariable (V3) region, which is a part of 16SrDNA. The 16SrDNA region is a conserved region among the bacterial species, but to investigate the diversity among the same species the hypervariable region are the best suited sequences. More than 1 million reads per treatment revealed very high levels of diversity. The majority of the sequences were attribute to the Proteobacteria (about 23-25%), 15% and 30-35% fitted into Actinobacteria and unknown phylum, respectively. Significant higher abundances of bacterial species with NZ treatment encompassed the population associated with nutrient cycling, residue decomposition and xenobiosis. The alpha diversity index also indicated better diversity and evenness within the treated soil than untreated soil. Our findings support the importance of nanozeolite for better survival of soil microorganisms especially bacteria.