Researchers from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found that interspecific interaction between desert plants has the potential to regulate underground microbial communities.

The findings were published in Frontiers in Microbiology.

Intercropping is an important practice in promoting plant diversity and productivity. However, how this approach affects soil microbial communities when applied to native species in desert ecosystem remains unknown.

In this study, the researchers investigated the microbial communities of bulk soil and rhizosphere in the two-year Alhagi sparsifolia (legume) /Karelinia caspica (non-legume) monoculture vs. intercropping systems under field conditions.

Results showed that bacterial and fungal communities associated with A. sparsifolia and K. caspica differed between monoculture and intercropping systems, despite the lack of significant difference of bacterial richness. Monoculture weakened the rhizosphere effect on fungal richness. The composition of bacterial and fungal communities (β-diversity) was significantly modified by intercropping.

Bacterial and fungal communities from bulk soil and rhizosphere responded differently to monoculture and intercropping systems. Compared with bulk soil, the rhizosphere microbial community was more resistant to environmental perturbation, and its overall complexity could be enhanced by intercropping.

The researchers also found that intercropping systems could increase the modularity and stability of microbial co-occurrence networks in bulk soil and promote more microbial inter-kingdom interactions.

These findings provide a potential strategy to regulate soil microbial communities and rationally allocate plant species in desert ecosystems.