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Soil microbial mechanisms of Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) residue returning increasing crop yield and quality

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Abstract

Due to the ever-increasing worldwide plantation of sweet leaf Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni), how to efficiently and effectively utilize the huge amounts of leaf residues that contain abundant nutrients after sweetener extraction becomes an eminent issue. One option is to return these residues into soil, as organic manure in the fresh or composted form, in order to both sustain soil fertility and avoid potential environmental pollution. In a field experiment, we studied if the Stevia leaf residue returning affected both plant and soil microbial growths as well as the possible change of soil microbial community composition. In doing so, four treatments were employed: (1) no chemical fertilization and no Stevia residue returning (no-fertilization control); (2) chemical N, P, and K fertilization (NPK); (3) fresh Stevia residue plus NPK (FS + NPK); and (4) composted Stevia residue plus NPK (CS + NPK). Responses of plant and soil microbial communities to Stevia residue input after 1-year fertilizations were investigated by multiple approaches, including soil enzyme assay, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and PCR–denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Our results showed that compared to the sole NPK and no-fertilization control, returning Stevia residues to soil stimulated the enzyme activities of dehydrogenase, invertase, and urease, except neutral phosphomonoesterase; thereby, both the Stevia leaf biomass and sweet glycoside of rebaudioside A were increased. The soil microbial community abundance was increased by the returning of Stevia residues, and their composition was shifted, evidenced by an increase of relative abundance of some genotypic groups, such as Bacillales. Further molecular analysis of Bacillus confirmed that this guild composition was positively influenced by Stevia residue returning, especially for Bacillaceae. Our results demonstrated an effective use of Stevia residues as organic manure for promoting Stevia yield and quality through stimulating soil microbial growth and enzyme activities.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (project no. 41271256, 41001142, and 41071168). We are also indebted to Zhucheng Haotian Pharm Co., Ltd., Zhucheng, China, for field managements and assistance in soil sampling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 210008, China

    Jiangbing Xu, Youzhi Feng, Yiming Wang, Junhua Wang & Xiangui Lin

  2. School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Xinhua He

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  1. Jiangbing Xu
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  2. Youzhi Feng
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  3. Yiming Wang
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  4. Junhua Wang
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  5. Xinhua He
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  6. Xiangui Lin
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Correspondence to Xiangui Lin.

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Xu, J., Feng, Y., Wang, Y. et al. Soil microbial mechanisms of Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) residue returning increasing crop yield and quality. Biol Fertil Soils 49, 839–846 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-013-0777-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-013-0777-7

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