Arable soil microbial communities are affected by plant community and agricultural management

Summary

Plants shape soil microbiomes, yet this interaction is underexplored in the cultivated farmlands of the boreal region. We assessed the soil microbiome of seven differently managed major crop types in the region (pasture, ley, oat, rye, faba bean, oilseed, and cabbage), alongside a long-term environmental fallow, in 73 fields in Southern Finland. Microbial data were cross-analyzed with plant community data, which combined the cultivated and other vascular plants observed in the fields. Amplicon sequence analysis indicated that crop type, plant richness, plant coverage, and agricultural management affect the soil microbiome’s taxonomic and predicted functional composition. The most dissimilar microbial communities were under fallow and cabbage, which represented the management and plant dive