ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Effects of Combined Nitrogenous Based Inorganic
Fertilizers and Two Forms of Organic Fertilizers
on Plant Phenotypic Characteristics and Soil
Bacterial Community Structure within a Cotton
Field Environment
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Institute of Cash Crops, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences / Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology and Breeding
in the Middle Reaches of the Changjiang River, Ministry of Agriculture, Wuhan, Hubei, China
Submission date: 2019-11-26
Final revision date: 2020-01-17
Acceptance date: 2020-03-08
Online publication date: 2020-06-30
Publication date: 2020-08-05
Corresponding author
Shu Bie
Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2020;29(6):4397-4408
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ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study is to unravel the effects of inorganic Nitrogen (N) combined with either
organic fertilizer or biochar on the soil biochemical properties, plant phenotypic characteristics and
soil bacterial community structure within an experimental cotton field. The experiment involved the
determination of the soil chemical properties, enzymatic activities and bacterial community. The study
method employed field measurements, laboratory analyses, high throughput sequencing of the bacterial
16S rDNA to examine the response of soil enzymatic activities, microbial communities and plant
phenotypic properties to the applied three different fertilizer regimens; (1) inorganic fertilizer (N), (2)
N + organic fertilizer (N + OF), (3) N + biochar fertilizer (N + Biochar), under two cotton varieties:
CN01 and ZD2040. The study indicated that combined N plus carbon-based organic fertilizer is
responsible for enhanced crop growth, yield productivity and probiotic soil microbial content. Further,
the combined mineral and carbon-based fertilizer regimen is highly beneficial to soil microbial content
and diversity. The occurrence could be due to the increased soil nutrient content as a result of availability
of carbon-based fertilizer and induced microbial activity by the mineral fertilizer. The use of N plus
carbon-based organic fertilizer is recommended to improve the soil quality and cotton yield.