Summary
This study investigates the influence of organic versus conventional management on the soil microbiome of citrus orchards in eastern Sicily, using Illumina sequencing to characterise bacterial and fungal communities across fifteen commercial sites. Findings suggest that sampling site (i.e. location-specific environmental conditions) is the primary driver of microbiome structure, with farming system type and other agronomic variables playing secondary roles. The paper contributes comparative evidence on how agricultural management practices interact with environmental context to shape soil microbial diversity and function in Mediterranean perennial fruit systems.
UK applicability
The study is conducted in a Mediterranean citrus-growing context not directly replicable in the UK; however, the broader finding that site-specific environmental factors may outweigh farming system type in determining soil microbiome structure is relevant to UK debates on organic versus conventional horticulture and soil health policy under the Environmental Land Management schemes.
Key measures
Soil bacterial and fungal community diversity (alpha and beta diversity indices); relative abundance of microbial taxa; functional profiles of soil microbiota; influence of site, farming system, and agronomic variables on microbiome structure (Illumina amplicon sequencing using BeCrop® primers)
Outcomes reported
The study characterised bacterial and fungal soil microbial communities across fifteen commercial citrus orchards managed under organic or conventional systems, examining diversity, relative abundance, and functional profiles. It assessed the relative influence of farming system type alongside environmental and agronomic variables on microbiome structure.
Topic tags
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